More Than You Know
by Pedestrians
Summary: Princess Peach is kidnapped on the night of the Mushroom Ball. She is devastated until she meets Bowser's children and learns that they are much different than the spoiled brats everyone thinks they are.
1. Chapter 1

The entire Mushroom Kingdom had been buzzing with excitement for the past week, and this night was the most exciting of all. Tonight marked the annual Mushroom Ball and everyone who would be attending was as happy as could be. Toads pranced in the streets happily chatting with their friends and imagining the events that the night would bring. Everyone in the kingdom was lively and happy. The castle was beautifully decorated and the ball would begin very soon. The hostess of the night's occasion, Princess Peach, and her best friend, Princess Daisy sat in Peach's dressing room preparing themselves for the festivities.

"I can't wait!" Daisy gushed, as she adjusted the strap on her yellow evening gown. "Tonight is going to be great."

Peach beamed. She knew it would be; much greater than any before it. She had gone to the ball with Mario before, but this year was different. This time, they were a real couple, very much in love. The same could be said for Daisy and her date, Mario's brother Luigi, but they had been a couple for quite some time already. "I think you're right," Peach answered with a smile. She then paused for a moment. "I just hope nothing goes wrong."

Daisy walked over to Peach and helped her with her hair. "Don't even think about stuff like that. Just think about how much fun we're going to have!"

"You're probably right," Peach said, with a sigh. "Maybe I shouldn't worry so much."

Meanwhile, Mario and Luigi began making their way to the castle to meet the princesses. The trip there was rather quiet, as both brothers were feeling quite nervous, and didn't talk much. This, of course, was normal for Luigi, but not so for Mario. He was feeling uneasy about something, but could not seem to tell what. He decided, however, not to say anything about his thoughts. He hated admitting that he was scared and didn't want to worry Luigi. Instead, he decided to concentrate on enjoying a wonderful night with his dear princess.

The two reached the castle just as many other guests were arriving as well, and immediately sought out Peach and Daisy. The princesses were waiting patiently outside of the doors of the ballroom for Mario and Luigi as Princess Peach greeted her guests.

"Good evening," she said, smiling sweetly. "I hope you enjoy the ball."

"Look!" Mario said to his brother, grinning, when he saw them. "There they are!"

Luigi smiled too and they approached the princesses at the doors.

"Hi!" Daisy said loudly and kissed Luigi, showing her bubbly personality.

Mario looked at Princess Peach in awe. He always thought she looked pretty, but tonight she was breathtakingly beautiful. She wore a light pink strapless ball gown with a full tulle skirt and a satin ribbon around her waist. The bodice of the dress was accented with elaborate beading that sparkled in the light and her golden hair was softly curled and put up.

"You—you look beautiful," he told her, still amazed.

Peach smiled. "Thank you so much. You are so sweet. I think the ball is about to start. Let's go inside."

Mario nodded and held out his arm to escort her inside the beautifully decorated ballroom. Daisy and Luigi followed them. Princess Peach welcomed everyone to the ball, and the orchestra began playing. The entire room was bursting with happy chatter and colorful, swirling ball gowns. Peach, Daisy, Mario, and Luigi simply chatted amongst themselves for a few minutes. Most of them found themselves rather reluctant to dance, except Princess Daisy.

"Come on, let's go dance!" she said to Luigi, and took him by the hand.

"Well, er—okay," Luigi replied nervously.

Daisy walked him across the ballroom and they began dancing. Mario and Peach remained where they were standing, still speaking to each other. Mario was still feeling nervous and anxiously looked around the room.

"What am I so worried about? Nothing's wrong," he thought to himself. "We're alone now… maybe I should ask her to dance…"

Mario hesitated at first, but pushed his nervousness aside long enough to ask Peach, "Maybe… you'd like to dance now?"

Peach grinned. She had been waiting for him to ask. "Of course I would," she replied happily.

He smiled at her and put his arm carefully around her waist. They began doing a waltz to the beautiful song the orchestra played—it was one of Peach's favorites.

"You really do look amazing tonight," he told her again.

"Thank you," Peach said, blushing. "You look lovely as well."

The two talked and danced together for quite some time. They were greatly enjoying the evening and each others' company. "I'm so happy to be here with you tonight," Mario said to Peach after a moment of silence, looking into her sapphire eyes. "I love you."

Princess Peach was ecstatic. "I love you too," she said, and they kissed.

Daisy watched them from across the room. She was paying more attention to them than she was to Luigi. When she saw this, she grinned.

"Look at them!" she cried to Luigi, with a giggle.

Luigi looked at them and smiled, too. He was happy knowing that his brother was happy.

Peach looked up from her kiss and saw Daisy and Luigi looking at her and Mario.

"I think we're being watched," she whispered to Mario with a smile.

Daisy and Luigi quickly looked away when they realized that Peach had seen them, and laughed.

Mario looked to the other side of the ballroom, knowing who Peach was talking about, even though they were no longer watching. Mario and Peach didn't care, however, and smiled at each other before kissing each other again. The moment was wonderful and romantic.

Suddenly, the double doors of the ballroom flung open with a loud crash and the excitement abruptly ended. The happy chatter turned to screams. All of the frightened guests stared at the doorway, trying to find out what had just happened. It was Bowser standing in the entrance of the room, along with an army of koopa troopas. The koopas forced all of the guests to the sides of the room, except for Mario and Princess Peach, who were left standing in the center. Mario held his princess tightly to protect her as Bowser slowly approached them.

"What a beautiful ball," he said with a sly grin. "Just why wasn't _I _invited?"

The entire room turned to complete silence. Everyone was too shocked to even make a sound.

"My queen, you look simply beautiful tonight," Bowser continued. He took Peach's hand in his and began to kiss it, until Mario stopped him.

"Leave her alone," Mario said with an angry look on his face, standing in front of the princess.

Bowser laughed wickedly. He stomped the floor, causing a tremor that hurled Mario across the ballroom, and then held Peach tightly in his arm.

He looked at her and said, "You belong to me," and kissed her.

She desperately tried to escape his grasp but found herself unable to. Bowser picked her up and began walking out of the room.

"No, Mario!" Peach cried as they left the room. She looked over at him lying on the floor as tears rolled down her face.

Mario was a bit stunned from the blow, but managed to look back at Peach. He knew he had to help her. The koopas filed out of the room behind their king, preventing Mario or anyone else from reaching Princess Peach and rescuing her. After they had gone, Mario regained his strength and immediately ran outside to begin his new journey to reclaim Peach. The ballroom remained quiet. Daisy and Luigi looked at each other, terrified. They had been holding each other firmly throughout the entire ordeal, scared not only for themselves, but more so for their friends.

"We have to help," Daisy stammered, and Luigi nodded.

They followed Mario out of the room and found him running out of the castle. Finally, they managed to catch up to him.

"We're coming too," Daisy told him.

Mario wasn't sure what to say at first. He wasn't entirely sure if he wanted them to come along. He didn't want them to get hurt, and he didn't want them to slow him down. Daisy had never gone on one of these quests before, and Mario didn't know if she would be able to handle one, not to mention he wasn't particularly fond of her.

"Well, I… I don't know," Mario said.

"Come on, we'll rescue Peach faster if there are three of us," Daisy answered.

Mario thought about what Daisy had just said. Maybe she was right. Whether she was or not, Mario didn't want to waste any more time. He wanted to reunite with Peach as soon as was possible. "All right, fine," he sighed.

Daisy smiled, and after a quick change of clothes and gathering some supplies, the three set off on their journey.

Upon the arrival at his castle, Bowser stood Peach on the floor and told her, "Welcome home, Peach."

Peach looked down at her feet. After a minute of silence, she said, "I can't believe you are doing this to me again," still crying.

Bowser ignored what she said. He took her by the hand and led her through the dim corridors of the castle and into a small bedroom.

"Good night, my love," he said. "I will see you again tomorrow."

The moment after he left the room, Peach broke down. She noticed that this wasn't the room she usually stayed in, but she didn't care then. She lay down on the bed and buried her face in the pillows, weeping now. She was devastated that this had happened to her, especially because of how wonderful the night had been just before.

It was very late, however, and it was not long until Princess Peach cried herself to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Princess Peach was awakened late the next morning by a koopa servant.

"Princess?" he said, knocking on the door.

Peach woke up and slowly walked over to answer it. She was still feeling very upset. She wasn't sure who was on the other side, but she could tell it wasn't Bowser, so she decided to see what they had to say.

"Yes?" she answered gloomily as she opened the door.

"Gather your things," he told her. "I'll show you to your room. It's ready now."

She was a bit confused, as she had expected to stay in the room she was already in, but followed the servant anyway.

"Welcome to the castle, Princess," he said to her as they walked. "I am certain you will enjoy your time here."

The princess didn't reply. She wasn't convinced that this kidnapping would exactly be enjoyable to her. The only thing she wanted was to return home. However, as she and the servant continued making their way through the hallways, she began to recognize where she was. They passed through corridors that she'd seen countless times before, and the two of them soon arrived at their destination. The koopa troopa stopped in front of a door that Peach was very familiar with—this was the bedroom she usually stayed in when taken to Bowser's castle.

"Here you are," the servant said, opening the door for her.

"Thank you," she murmured as she walked in and closed the door behind her.

Peach felt much more at ease in this room, and had began to calm down a bit. She looked around and found herself feeling much better, almost happy that she was there, and decided that she would like to explore the room a bit more. Peach walked to the side of the room where the closet was set into the wall and opened it. She smiled, delighted to find that someone had taken a few of her pink dresses from home and brought them here. She took one of them off of its hanger and proceeded to the vanity table at the back of the bedroom. Peach looked in the mirror and cringed—she looked terrible. Her pretty up-do from the night before had fallen down, and her makeup was smeared due to her crying. The events of the previous night had wreaked havoc on the ball gown she was still wearing, it was dirty and torn. Peach slipped her gown off and put on her much more comfortable dress from home, smoothing out the wrinkles with her hand. She brushed her long, silky hair and re-applied her makeup. When she was finished, she looked in the mirror, and breathed a relieved sigh.

"Maybe this won't be so bad," she thought to herself. "I do feel comfortable, and Mario should be here soon enough. I hope so, anyway."

---

As all of this was happening, Mario, Luigi, and Daisy made their way on their quest, slowly. It had been uneventful thus far, aside from the occasional goomba or koopa troopa that came along, which were no match for any of the three.

"I am so bored!" Daisy complained as they trudged on.

Neither brother answered her whining, but Mario rolled his eyes, annoyed.

"Luigi, come stand by me," she demanded and held his hand as soon as he did. "Isn't this boring?"

"Well, yes, kind of, but I wouldn't mind it staying this way…" Luigi answered. He was still feeling a bit rattled. He wasn't at all expecting to be thrown into this journey the previous night and, as usual, was startled by everything that came alone.

Mario tried to ignore them. He was beginning to realize that he'd much rather be alone, and that the others were becoming irritating, and the fact that he simple couldn't stand Daisy didn't help. He missed Princess Peach so much, and Daisy and Luigi were making him feel worse. However, he decided to try to make the best of things, and the three continued on their journey.

---

The day went on, and Peach had just finished eating dinner with Bowser. Even though she was feeling better, time spent with him was still miserable and she barely spoke as they ate. Peach signed and looked at the floor, hoping that she would soon be allowed to return to her room. A moment later, someone burst through the doors of the small dining room and crawled up onto Peach's lap, completely surprising her.

"Mama Peach!" he cried, hugging her.

The princess's mood immediately brightened and she hugged him back. "Hello, sweetheart," she said, with a delighted smile.

It was Bowser Jr., or course, Bowser's youngest child at just three years old. Princess Peach knew him very well from past experiences, and had grown very fond of him.

"Mama Peach, will you come play with me?" he asked

"I would love to," she replied. "But you'd better ask your father if that's all right."

"Okay, come on!" he said as he descended from her lap. He took hold of her hand and led her to Bowser.

"Can my Mama Peach come and play with me, Dad?"

Bowser wasn't sure how to answer at first. He thought for a moment, and a slight smirk appeared on his face. "Of course you can," he replied. "Have fun."

"Yay, thank you, Dad!"

This wasn't the answer that Peach had expected, and she was thrilled. She even turned to give Bowser a small smile as she left the room with his son. Bowser remained in the small dining room as they walked out. He watched them leave with a devious smile spread across his face, and a quiet, sinister laugh.


	3. Chapter 3

Bowser Jr. led Peach through the castle very quickly, holding her hand the entire time. He was completely overjoyed to see her again because, even though he knew she wasn't, he thought of her as his mother. And Peach was happy to act as a mother to him—that was just the kind of sweet and caring person she was. The two of them turned the corner and continued down another corridor.

"Okay, here we are," Bowser Jr. said, opening the doors to a rather large and messy playroom.

They stepped in, and he quickly plucked a coloring book and a few crayons from a disheveled bookshelf on the other side of the room, strewn with torn out pages and various other toys that had been left there. He ran back to Peach, sat down on the floor, and began coloring. The princess sat down next to him and watched, astonished by how well he filled in the pictures.

"You're wonderful at that, aren't you," she told him, excitedly.

He simply replied, "I really like drawing," and kept coloring, not bothering to look up at her.

Peach looked around the room, wondering what else was there. She noticed two more doors, and was curious as to where they led. She stared at the doorway at the left side of the room, imagining what might be behind it, until something startled her a bit. She thought she saw the door open slightly, and then immediately close.

"What was that?" she thought to herself, and then remembered something. Bowser Jr. was not Bowser's only child. Peach had been told stories of the others many times, but didn't actually know much about them. She _was_ sitting in a playroom, and decided that the rest of the children couldn't be too far away—and she wanted to meet them.

"Do you have any brothers and sisters?" she asked Junior, hoping he'd know where they were.

He slowly looked up from his coloring book, and remained silent for a long moment. He didn't want to answer her.

"You do, don't you?" Peach asked again.

"I have six brothers and one sister," he finally answered begrudgingly, and continued doodling.

---

Peach was not mistaken when she thought she had seen the door open. The next chamber of the playroom held Bowser's seven older children, most of whom were playing video games. The third youngest child, Morton, was the one who had been gazing out of the door. He shouted, "I saw a girl in there! You guys, there's a girl in there!" as he ran about the room excitedly.

His siblings, however, ignored him as they often did, and carried on with their game.

"Really, there is! I'm serious!" he continued, desperately trying to gain their attention.

"What are you talkin' about? There is not," said one of his older brothers, Roy. "Shut up."

However, after Morton had announced this a few more times, some of the children became curious. Ludwig, the oldest child, and Wendy, the only girl, followed Morton to the door, and peered into the next room where they saw the princess chatting with their little brother.

"Wow, there really is a girl in there," Wendy said, surprised.

"See, I told you!" Morton cried.

"Who is she?" Wendy asked Ludwig. "Is that… Princess Peach?"

"I think it might be," he answered.

By now, the rest of the children had overheard their conversation and gathered around to catch a glimpse of the girl.  
"I'm going to go talk to her," Wendy declared, and began to leave the room, until Ludwig put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"No, I will," he insisted. "I'm the oldest."

Peach had seen the children by now—they had made quite a bit of racket—but she pretended as though she hadn't as they approached her.

"Good evening, madam," Ludwig said to her, bowing slightly. "My name is Ludwig Von Koopa, King Bowser's eldest child. Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you Princess Peach?"

"I am," she replied with a smile, very impressed by his politeness. "I am pleased to meet you. May I ask who the rest of you are?"

"These are the rest of my siblings," Ludwig answered, and told the children, "Let's not be rude, introduce yourselves—in order, please."

However, no one answered him. All of the children looked over to the next oldest child, a rather small one with very colorful hair, realizing that he had not been paying attention. Ludwig nudged him a bit, and he then realized what was going on.

"Oh, I'm Lemmy," he said, as he effortlessly balanced atop a yellow rubber ball that was adorned with blue stars.

"Name's Roy," the next child said coolly. He was one of the biggest of the children and looked rather tough as well. He was looking at Peach through red sunglasses. "'Sup?"

Peach simply nodded and smiled at him.

"My name is Iggy," said another, quietly. He was quite small for being 11 years old, and had a wild mop of multicolored hair on his head, very similar to Lemmy's. He looked at Peach and smiled weakly, then pushed up his black-rimmed glasses and continued reading from a textbook titled "CHEMISTRY."

The next Koopaling was quick to announce, "I'm Wendy. Aren't I pretty?" She was the only girl in the bunch of siblings. She had a pink shell on her back and a large bow on her head that perfectly matched it. She also wore a gold bangle on each of her wrists and a red beaded necklace. "I'm a princess too, you know."

Most of her brothers snickered at her last statement, and Morton and Roy completely burst out laughing. Wendy whirled around instantly and glared at them.

"What? I am," she insisted, but the boys laughed even harder.

Wendy frequently tried to convince her brothers of her royal status, but was never successful. She acted sweetly while Princess Peach was around, but she could be as mean as any of her brothers, not to mention throw some nasty tantrums.

Peach decided that she wanted to make Wendy happy and answered, "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Princess," with a sweet smile.

Wendy grinned back at her, and then turned to give her brothers a snobby look.

"My turn! I'm next!" the next child shouted happily, without hesitation. "My name is Morton Koopa Jr. I am seven years old. You know what? You're really pretty. Do you wanna play a game with me? You seem really nice. Guess what? I can lick my elbow! Wanna see?"

Peach was only half listening as Morton continued with his speech. She was more interested in his appearance. He looked remarkably different than all of the seven other children. His skin was darker than theirs and a star-shaped birthmark graced the left side of his face over his eye. He had a beautiful ivory-colored shell on his back that was trimmed with gold, and even though he was one of the youngest children, he was one of the biggest, and Peach decided that he was probably one of the strongest as well.

"I'm glad you're here. Are you going to play with us?" Morton continued, until Roy punched his arm, and he stopped talking immediately.

"Seriously, shut up," Roy told him with a scowl.

Peach had thought that everyone had introduced themselves then, but quickly noticed one more child peering at her from behind Ludwig, as if trying to hide. He looked somewhat similar to Ludwig, too, as they shared bright green shells and thick blue hair.

"What's your name?" Peach asked him softly, with a sweet smile.

The child glanced at her for a moment, but then looked at the floor and didn't reply.

"Oh, that's Larry," Ludwig answered for him. "He's only five. He doesn't talk much."

Peach picked Bowser Jr. up, who had been sitting on her lap the entire time, and stood him on the floor. She walked over to Larry and asked him, "Can I hold you?"

He thought for a minute, and then nodded. Peach picked him up and he rested his head on her shoulder. All of the other children stared at each other, surprised, except Junior who looked up at Peach with an angry frown.

"Well, let's move to the other room, shall we?" Ludwig said after a while, and everyone walked back into the second chamber of the playroom where a small television was located, along with many other toys. This room also had a door on its back wall just as the first one did, but Peach still wasn't sure where either of them led. Peach investigated the room a bit more and spotted a rocking chair. She cleared the mound of toys off of it and sat down, placing Larry on her lap while all of the other children sat around her on the floor. Everyone chatted with each other for a while, mostly asking Peach questions about herself and the kingdom she lived in.

"Is your castle really big?" Lemmy asked.

Peach nodded. "Yes, it is quite large—and it's lovely."

"Do you know any other princesses?" Ludwig wondered.

Peach smiled. "Well, yes, I do. My best friend's name is Princess Daisy. We've known each other since we were very young."

"Princess Daisy…" he repeated. "She is the ruler of Sarasaland, correct?"

"Yes, that's right." Peach was quickly learning things about all of the children, and she was certainly beginning to realize that Ludwig was extremely smart and grown up, especially for being only 17. Their conversation about Daisy, however, made her feel a bit sad. She hadn't seen her since the night of the ball, and had no idea how she was doing now or where she was. However, she was soon distracted by Bowser Jr.'s whining.

"Why does he get to sit with you?" he complained, nearly crying. "I was there first; tell him to get off!"

"It's all right, I can hold you both," she answered kindly and sat him next to his brother on her lap.

Junior angrily scowled at Larry and the other children carried on with their questions.

"I bet you get to go to fancy balls and stuff," Wendy cooed. "You have a prince, don't you?"

These words instantly made Peach think of Mario and how much she missed him, and also of the night she was kidnapped. She found herself feeling heartbroken—even more than she thought she was—and didn't answer as she tried to hold back her tears. However, her thoughts were interrupted immediately by a piercing shriek from Larry.

"What's wrong?" Peach asked him, frightened. "What happened?"

The rest of the children stopped talking to see what had just occurred. Larry cried, loudly—making much more noise than he had the entire evening—without saying anything. Peach, however, spotted three small holes punctured into his leg that were beginning to bleed.

"Could one of you help him, please?" Peach asked, still a bit shaken. "I would, but I don't really know my way around…"

"Of course," Ludwig sighed. He picked up his brother and carried him out of the playroom.

When the ordeal was over and Peach regained her composure, it became obvious to her that Larry's wounds had been caused by Bowser Jr.'s claws, and she was quite disappointed in him. However, Junior quickly looked up at her with an innocent baby face, hoping to convince her that he hadn't done anything wrong.

"That wasn't very nice of you," she scolded him. The look on his face was too adorable for her to be very angry, however.

"I didn't do it," Junior lied, and looked away from her.

"I'm really surprised he let you hold him like that," Wendy suddenly told Peach, referring to Larry.

"Yeah, usually the kid never lets anyone even go near him, except Ludwig," Roy added. "He's pretty much scared of the rest of us. The kid's kind of a wuss."

"Why does he like Ludwig so much?" Peach asked curiously.

None of the children seemed to know, however, and no one answered. A few of them shrugged, but that was all.

---

As Ludwig wrapped a bandage around Larry's injured leg he told him, "You can't let him push you around like that. You need to stand up for yourself."

Ludwig looked up and sighed dismally after saying this, realizing that it was advice he should be giving himself. Larry yawned shortly after, and Ludwig picked him up once again. He carried him into a hallway with four doors on one side, and two more on the other. The four doors led to the Koopalings' bedrooms, and the two across the hall were bathrooms. Ludwig opened the third door in the row of four and stepped inside it. It was a medium-sized room that housed three small beds. Ludwig walked his brother into the farthest bed from the door and carefully tucked him into it. This was the bed he always slept in—every sibling had their own bed and was to sleep in that one every night. The other two beds in the room belonged to Iggy and Morton.

"Good night, then," Ludwig said as he left the room, closing the door behind him. He then began making his way back to the playroom.

"Thank you so much," Peach told him when he walked back into the room. "You are such a kind older brother."

Ludwig said nothing back to her; in fact, her comment made him rather annoyed.

"Where is Larry?" Peach continued."Is he all right?

"He's fine," Ludwig answered. "I put him to bed."

After more time had passed, as the princess and the children continued happily chatting despite what had happened a few minutes before, Peach found herself tired and was beginning to yawn. She looked at the large clock on the wall, somewhat amazed to find it intact, and realized that it was quite late.

"My, it's getting late," she said. "Don't you all need to get to bed soon?"

"Nuh-uh," Junior told her. "We can go to sleep whenever we want to."

Uncertain whether this was true, Peach looked at the rest of the children, who all nodded back at her in agreement.

"Well, all right then. I'm going to go to bed. Good night."

"Good night," many of the children said simultaneously as Peach left the room.

When she arrived back to her bedroom, Peach lay in her bed deep in thought.

"What a wonderful night," she told herself. "These children are very sweet. I really wouldn't mind staying here for a little while if I get to be with them."

It had been a very long and eventful day, and soon the princess was asleep.

---

By now, some of the Koopalings had dispersed from the place they had all been sitting in order to do other activities, but others stayed there discussing Princess Peach.

"Well, that certainly was interesting," Iggy declared.

"I like her. She seems really nice. I hope we get to see her again soon! Do you think she's gonna stay here for a long time?" Morton babbled, until he was quickly interrupted by his sister.

"She's all right, I guess," she said arrogantly. Wendy actually was quite jealous of Peach, but acted as though she wasn't.

Bowser Jr. remained standing near them all, listening to everything they said, becoming increasingly angry. Finally, he snarled, "She's _my _Mama Peach," furiously.

The children all stopped talking. They knew it would be useless to argue with their youngest brother, and decided it would be better to simply ignore him. The night continued on without many more occurrences, and within a few hours, everyone had gone to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Wendy was awakened the next morning by a banging on her bedroom door and a koopa troopa shouting, "Hey, get up!"

She arose, unwillingly, and began getting ready for her day. This was nothing out of the ordinary—this same event occurred every day at exactly seven o'clock in the morning. She was always the first child get up, as her room was the first in the hallway. She had her own room because she was the only girl, which also caused her to tend to need a bit more time preparing herself in the morning. As soon as she emerged from her bedroom, the koopa rapped on the next door in the hallway. This room belonged to the three oldest children, Ludwig, Lemmy, and Roy. The servant then moved onto the next door in the row of four—Iggy, Morton, and Larry's room.

Though most of the children were silent while they brushed their teeth and hair, Morton was tireless and as lively as ever.

"I wonder what's for breakfast. I hope I get to do something fun today," he said.

His sleepy siblings replied only with rolling eyes and a few yawns. However, his next comment caught some of their attention.

"Do you think Princess Peach is still here?"

No one answered, but they wondered the same thing. However, at this point, the children realized that 7:15 was fast approaching—exactly the time breakfast was served, and everyone was expected to be seated at the table in time.

"All right," Ludwig said when everyone had gathered around him in the hallway outside of the bathrooms. "Is everyone ready?"

He silently counted his siblings to make sure they were all there.

"Five, six, seven…" he thought to himself, and realized that one child was missing.

Noticing his confusion, a few of the other children counted as well.

"Great," Roy quipped. "Where's the brat?"

The children instantly looked in the direction of their youngest brother's room and found the koopa troopa violently pounding on his door in an effort to wake him.

"I don't have time for this," he grumbled."You guys deal with him."

He then angrily stormed away. An annoyed Roy flung open the door to Bowser Jr.'s bedroom. It was enormous—bigger than any of the other three rooms—and he had it all to himself. It was even messier than the playroom, with toys of every kind scattered across bright red carpet and a shelf filled with coloring books and crayons at the back of the room. In the top left corner was a large, cozy bed, and in it Bowser Jr. was curled up sleeping soundly.

Roy tried not to step on anything on the floor as he made his way to his brother's bedside.

"Wake up!" he screamed.

Junior turned his head away from Roy and remained asleep.

Enraged, Roy furiously shook him and yelled, "Come on you idiot! You're gonna make us all late!"

Junior simply pulled the covers over his head this time, still not budging. Ludwig entered the room then, clearing a path in the toy-covered floor as he walked to the bed.

"Fine then, I'll do it," he sighed. "I have to do everything anyway."

He then pulled the covers off of his youngest brother and picked him up out of his bed.

Angry, and still tired, Junior's tantrum ensued immediately. "Put me down!" he demanded.

Ludwig ignored him as he carried him out of his room and proceeded to the dining room, the rest of the children following.

"Let me go!" Bowser Jr. continued, but Ludwig kept walking despite his brother whining, kicking, and even occasionally biting him.

The children walked until they reached an enormous set of double doors. Roy opened the doors and allowed Wendy to enter first before the boys filed in. The dining room looked even more spectacular on the inside than it did from the outside. The wall opposite the door was graced with three windows nearly reaching the ceiling that provided a hauntingly alluring view of the outside of the castle. The wall to the left kept a small door that led to the kitchen. The most striking thing there was a large table that ran vertically up the room. Four chairs sat at each side of it, and one more was placed at both ends. Ludwig sat Junior down in his chair—the first one on the right side of the table—and he sat in his which was directly across from Bowser Jr.'s. The rest of the children took their seats as well. Everyone had their own designated seat around the table, in order of their ages. The chair at the end closest to the doors belonged to Bowser, who had been sitting there the entire time, while the one closest to the windows remained empty.

Junior, still upset, complained, "I'm hungry! When do we get to eat? And where's my Mama Peach?"

---

"Princess?" the same koopa troopa who had just wakened the Koopalings asked gently knocking on her door.

Peach woke up and answered, "Yes?"

"Your presence is requested at breakfast," he said.

"Oh, of course," she said quietly, not sure whether she wanted to spend the morning with Bowser, but she realized that this may be an opportunity to eventually spend more time with his children—something she was greatly looking forward to. "I'll just need a minute to get ready."

Peach got dressed quickly and brushed her long, golden hair. She delicately placed her sparkling crown atop her head, looked in the mirror, and smiled. She then opened the door to find the koopa waiting patiently for her, much differently than he had treated the children just before.

"Good morning, Princess," he said. "Please follow me."

They made their way through the castle until they reached the two large doors.

"Here we are," the servant said, opening them for her.

Peach was a bit taken aback when she looked into the room. It was nothing like the dingy chamber she usually dined in with Bowser that held nothing but a tiny table with barely enough room for the two of them to sit at. This dining room, however, was magnificent and the princess was quite impressed. She was so fascinated by the enormous windows and the beautiful chandelier on the tall ceiling that she didn't even notice the eight children sitting around the grand table. Junior was the first to see her and when he did he instantly forgot how angry he was at his brother for so rudely waking him just a few minutes before.

"Mama Peach!" he squealed with excitement.

The other children heard him and immediately looked to the doorway and found her there, smiling.

"Princess Peach!" many shouted happily.

"Good morning, Princess," said Ludwig, politely.

"Good morning, everyone," she replied, thrilled to see them again.

Bowser arose from his chair and turned to greet Peach. He took her by the hand and began walking her to her very own place set at the other end of the table.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

"I had a wonderful night, thank you," Peach quietly replied with a small smile and took her seat.

As soon as Bowser sat down, ten koopa servants filed out of the kitchen, each carrying a plate of food. One of them stood behind each person seated at the table and set their plate in front of them.

"Thank you very much," Peach told her servant and smiled sweetly.

"Oh, you're welcome, princess," she stammered, surprised. Politeness was not something she was exactly used to, serving this family. "I… I hope you enjoy your meal."

The servants retreated back to the kitchen, and everyone began eating their breakfast. The room was rather still, aside from some quiet bickering among the siblings and the sounds of chewing. As Peach observed everyone at the table, she noticed various behaviors of the children. Some of them ravenously devoured their food while others barely touched theirs. She saw Morton snatch a biscuit off of Wendy's plate while she wasn't looking and quickly scarf it down. She smiled watching Lemmy balance his spoon on his fingertip, and Larry almost falling asleep. The only child who ate politely using manners was Ludwig.

Peach had barely finished eating when the ten servants walked back into the room to collect the plates. She was surprised, but no one else seemed to be.

"All right, then," Bowser announced as soon as they had returned to the kitchen.

All of the children immediately stopped talking and listened carefully to their father.

"Morton," Bowser began, "I guess you can do the piranha plants."

"Yes!" Morton whispered, with a grin.

"Wendy," he continued. "You can help in the kitchen."

She rolled her eyes, annoyed. Peach was confused for a while. She didn't know what was going on. However, it wasn't long before she realized that Bowser was assigning chores to his children. She had no idea that they did this before now, and something about it didn't seem quite right to her.

"Ludwig, you will do stuff in the library. Take Lemmy with you, and Larry," he said next.

Ludwig lit up a bit. This was his favorite chore to do, though he realized the other two would likely make things difficult for him.

"In the afternoon," Bowser continued, "I think I'll have Iggy guard the back, and Roy—I'll let you do some training today."

Roy grinned.

"Well, that's everyone, right?" Bowser finally said.

Ludwig began to smile. Peach hadn't seen him look this happy since she'd met him, and this made her smile, too.

"Oh, Ludwig, you can guard the foyer," Bowser said.

His smile immediately faded, and he quietly sighed.

"All right, you're all dismissed," Bowser then announced.

All of the children, except Bowser Jr., got up and left the table to begin their chores.

Princess Peach stood up after they left and walked over to Junior. She picked up his napkin and wiped the food off of his face.

"You don't have any chores today?" she asked him.

"I never do," he said.

"Oh. So what do you do all day?"

"We get to go play!"

Peach didn't exactly know to answer him. "Well, all right then," she said.

Peach looked over at Bowser, who was still seated in his stop at the table. He looked back at her and flashed at her a sly grin, but said nothing. Peach paused for a moment, and then looked away. She then helped Junior down from his chair and the two proceeded to the playroom. Peach felt uneasy as they walked down the corridors. She suddenly found her mind racing in many directions. She wondered why Bowser insisted that all his children, save for his beloved youngest, perform these menial tasks when the castle clearly had a plentiful amount on servants who could be doing them instead. Though she tried not to for fear she would begin to cry, Peach couldn't help but worry whether Mario was all right and if he'd arrive soon. Most of all, she remembered the look that Bowser had given her just before. It was chilling.

"He must be up to something," Peach thought. "And it can't be anything good."

In spite of this, the princess decided instead to look forward to spending more time with the eight sweet children she was quickly falling in love with.


	5. Chapter 5

As the Peach and Bowser Jr. continued walking, the princess heard something emanating from the playroom. As they got closer, she discovered that the noises were desperate pleas and mean laughter. Concerned, she opened the door and found Roy tightly grasping Iggy by his arm with his hand balled into a fist looming over Iggy's face. Roy grinned maliciously as Iggy winced nervously and begged his brother not to hit him. As soon as they saw the princess, however, Roy quickly let him go and they each smiled innocently at her. Peach didn't say anything at first; she wasn't sure how to react. All three boys remained unaffected, as if this were an everyday happening. After a few moments of silence, Peach decided that she too would act as though nothing had occurred and sat down on the floor next to Junior who had already retrieved his drawing supplies from the bookshelf. Iggy and Roy followed. Junior glared at his siblings when they sat down, but Peach didn't notice.

"You don't have chores in the morning?" Peach asked them.

"_This _morning, we don't," Roy replied. "We do in the afternoon though."

"It changes every day," Iggy added. "Sometimes you do something in the morning or else something after lunch. Some days you don't do anything at all. No one ever has to do both—"

"Except Ludwig," Roy interrupted.

"Right," Iggy continued. "Ludwig always has to do two jobs."

Peach frowned. "And Junior gets none?" she asked.

Roy and Iggy nodded, sulking, and Junior smiled smugly. Peach knew that this wasn't at all fair and that the other children didn't think it was either. She was quickly beginning to realize that Junior was by far Bowser's favorite child and the others all knew it.

And there was nothing they could do about it.

---

"Please put those down—you're going to break something," Ludwig scolded Lemmy who was juggling books in the castle's library.

Ludwig was becoming increasingly irritated as the hours passed. This usually was his favorite chore to do as he could often manage to finish dusting and organizing quickly enough to have some time left over to actually read some of the books there. Today, however, he doubted that this would happen. His brothers were supposed to be helping, but they were really more of a hindrance than anything else. Not only was Lemmy making a circus act out of anything he could get his hands on, but Larry was constantly clinging to Ludwig which prevented either of them from getting anything done.

As time went on and the three carried on with their chores in the library to some extent, they all were becoming rather bored. Lemmy bounced all around the room, until he reached a large glass display case filled with various interesting artifacts that had had been used in the castle many years ago. Curious, opened it and began examining the things.

"What is this? What does this do?" he asked.

Ludwig was concerned once again that Lemmy might break something, but was too busy tending to Larry to stop him.

"Lemmy, don't push any buttons," he sighed unenthusiastically, annoyed that he had ended up having to babysit his siblings once again.

A koopa troopa entered the room a few minutes later.

"It's almost time for lunch," he told the boys. "You're free to go."

Relieved, the children put down the things they were working on and returned to the playroom where they reunited with the rest of their siblings and Princess Peach.

"How was your morning?" Peach asked the children as soon as they walked through the doors.

Ludwig only sighed, disappointed by how the day had gone so far, and a few others shrugged.

"Mine was good," Morton chimed in happily. "Today I fed the piranha plants. It's so easy—my favorite chore! All you hafta do is give them food… but you gotta be careful not to get too close—and you definitely don't want to make them mad."

As he chatted, his siblings were becoming annoyed with him again, but he didn't notice and continued. "They have really sharp teeth—lots of them—and if they bite you it hurts. Really bad. I know—"

Roy kicked his leg so hard that Morton almost fell down.

"That's _fascinating_," Wendy quipped.

"Yeah, whatever," Roy said. "Let's go eat—I'm starving."

As soon as he said this, the children began to leave the playroom and head for the dining room. Before she left, the princess walked over to Morton, who was still inspecting his leg where he's been kicked.

"Are you all right?" she asked him, sympathetically.

"Yeah, it's just a little scratch," Morton replied.

"Well, okay. Shall we go eat, then?"

Morton nodded at her and smiled and the two followed the rest of the children to the dining room. Once they reached their destination, most of the children took their seats, and Peach did, too. She noticed that Bowser's chair was empty, and she was rather happy about it.

Ludwig was among the children who were sitting down and began writing in a notebook that he's brought with him, until he was interrupted by his sister.

"Switch spots with me," she demanded.

He slowly looked up from his book. "Why?" he asked her sharply.

"Because. I want to sit by Roy, and Iggy and Lemmy want to sit next to each other. _That's_ why."

"No. The last thing I want is to get yelled at."

"Oh come on," Roy added. "King Dad's not even here.

"Yeah… So will you?" Wendy asked again, nicer this time. "Please?"

Wanting to avoid a full-blown fight, Ludwig sighed, gathered his things, and walked over to Wendy's chair at the end of the table. Wendy, Roy, Iggy, and Lemmy all took their desired seats and began chatting happily. Ludwig opened his notebook again and continued scrawling things down in it.

"What is that?" Morton asked curiously. He was sitting to the left of Ludwig now.

"It's music," he replied, not bothering to look up at his brother.

Peach became interested after she heard him say this, and decided that she wanted to continue listening.

"What is this?" Morton asked a few moments later, pointing to one of the notes written on Ludwig's paper.

"That's an F sharp."

"Oh. What does that sound like? What is this song called?"

"Do you mind?" Ludwig retorted. "You're very distracting."

"Sorry," Morton said. It was only a few minutes, though, before he continued. "What does the note 'M' sound like?"

"'M?'" Ludwig repeated him, disgusted. "There isn't such a thing."

"But I see it right here," Morton said, pointing to the music again.

"That's _mf. Mezzo forte._ It means to play medium-loud."

Ludwig acted as though Morton was annoying him, but he really wasn't. In fact, Ludwig was very much enjoying the conversation. Music was his favorite thing to talk about. It always made him happy—and Peach could tell.

In the next few minutes, the children all continued happily conversing, until their father unexpectedly walked through the doors. He scowled when he say the kids misplaced. As soon as he entered the room, it became completely silent. The incorrectly seated children shot each other worried looks as they nervously anticipated their punishment.

"Would someone like to explain to me why you are sitting out of order?" Bowser growled.

No one answered. Princess Peach was shocked. She had no idea why he was so angry. She didn't think that the children had done anything wrong.

"Go sit down where you're supposed to be," Bowser ordered, and the children immediately moved into their rightful seats.

Ludwig desperately tried to hide his notebook on the journey back to his chair, but was unsuccessful.

"What is this?" Bowser asked him and snatched the book out of his hands.

"It's nothing," he said gloomily, being careful not to make eye contact with his father.

Bowser flipped through the pages, furious at what he found written on them.

"Didn't we talk about this before?" he asked Ludwig sternly.

Bowser had scolded his oldest son about this before, and had made it entirely clear that he did not approve.

"Yes," Ludwig simply replied, very quietly.

Bowser was about to continue scolding him until the ten servants emerged from the kitchen carrying lunch for everyone. He scowled at Ludwig once more before finally taking his seat.

---

"Okay, get out of here," Bowser commanded his children as soon as soon as they were finished eating.

All of the kids left the room and began making their way to either the playroom or the location of their chores, except Ludwig who stayed behind.

"What do you want?" Bowser asked him.

"Could I…" Ludwig answered, but paused for a moment.

"Could you what?"

"Could I please have my book back?" he asked nervously.

Bowser scowled. "No, you cannot," he retorted.

"But why not?" Ludwig asked, becoming increasingly upset. "Please?"

"Because I said so," his father replied angrily. "Just forget about it and go do your chores."

Ludwig decided that there was nothing more he could say and left the dining room with a sigh. Peach had been standing outside of the doors the whole time and heard their entire conversation, and decided to confront Bowser about it as soon as Ludwig had left.

"Why wouldn't you just give it back to him?" she asked him, angrily crossing her arms.

"There is no time for such useless hobbies, my sweet," he answered. "He should be helping in the castle instead."

Peach frowned furiously at him. "It is _not_ a useless hobby," she told him. "Give me the book."

Bowser gave her his eerie grin once more. "Anything for you, my queen," he said and handed her Ludwig's notebook.

When she reached out to take it from him, however, Bowser pulled her close to him and started to kiss her. Surprised and infuriated, Peach pushed Bowser off of her and took the notebook from him before quickly leaving in a huff.

---

Later that night after dinner, all eight children and the princess sat in the playroom again, playing and talking with each other.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Peach said. She picked up Ludwig's music book and handed it to him. Smiling sweetly, she whispered, "Here you are, Ludwig."

He claimed it, astonished. "How did you get this?" he asked.

"I talked to your father after lunch. It took some convincing, but he eventually gave it to me."

"Well, thank you very much. Do you mind if I go and play a bit?"

"Of course—go ahead."

Ludwig smiled at her and began to leave the room.

"Actually," Peach continued, "I'd love to hear you, if you don't mind."

He was a bit taken aback. He didn't say anything for a minute and contemplated whether or not he'd allow this. He had never exactly played any of his own pieces for anyone expect for a few of his siblings who barely listened anyway, and was nervous about what she might think.

"May I?" she asked.

"Well, I suppose so," he finally replied, realizing that this would be as good a time as any to share his music. "The piano is this way."

He led her to the door on the back wall of the first chamber of the playroom that Peach had noticed the first time she walked into the room. When they reached it, Ludwig picked up a key that he'd kept safely tucked into the top of his shell and unlocked the door. He opened it and turned on the light, then motioned for Peach to walk inside. As soon as she did, Ludwig sat down in front of his piano and flipped through the pages of his book, deciding what to play. The princess looked around the room a bit before he began. It was small and somewhat dim. The old piano stood along the wall to the left of the door and the next wall held a shelf full of music books—some about history, some theory, and some containing sheet music. There were also many papers scattered across the floor, mostly ones that Ludwig had written various notes on, some of them crumpled into balls.

"I guess I'll play this one," Ludwig declared, spreading the sheets to one of his best pieces in front of him on the piano.

Nervous at first, he took a deep breath and began playing. As he continued, however, his nervousness melted away and he quickly became lost in the music, effortlessly fingering the keys and making a beautiful melody. Peach was stunned. She'd expected him to be good, but she had no idea he would be as amazing as he was. He played every note flawlessly.

As soon as he finished playing the last chord of the piece, Ludwig turned to look at Peach. He smiled meekly, anticipating what she would say.

"You wrote that?" Peach asked, astonished.

He nodded.

"That was unbelievable—you're amazing!"

"Thank you," Ludwig said, beaming. "I wrote that piece only a few months ago."

"How long have you been playing?" she asked. She knew he wanted to talk about this—she was quite sure that no one usually cared to listen to what he had to say about the subject, but she was very interested. Peach could easily tell that music was Ludwig's passion and she was very proud of him.

"I've been playing for a long time—since I was young. I taught myself. I've never had a real lesson or anything," he told her. "And I started writing my own music a few years ago."

"You taught yourself? That's amazing," Peach replied, still astounded. "You must practice a lot."

Ludwig shrugged. "Not as much as I'd like to," he said. "I really don't get much free time because I have to do chores all day instead."

Peach frowned again, and Ludwig did, too. They were both completely aware that Bowser only gave him so much work to do in order to prevent him from playing. As far as he was concerned, it was nothing but a "useless hobby," after all.

"Sometimes I stay up all night practicing just because I never have any other time to," he confessed. "My father has no idea, but I'm sure he'd be furious if he did. And it's not just the chores. Even when I'm not doing them I'm forced to babysit my siblings."

"I noticed that," Peach said. She felt terrible for him, but knew very well that the things he told her were entirely true.

Soon after, there was a knocking on the door and Wendy and Morton poked their heads inside.

"Will you come and play with us?" Morton asked Peach.

"I'd love to," she answered with a sweet smile. "Ludwig, would you like to come, too?"

"No, thank you," he answered politely. "I'd like to keep playing."

Peach understood and smiled at him. "All right. Have fun," she told him and followed Morton and Wendy to the other side of the playroom.


	6. Chapter 6

When Peach reached the second chamber of the playroom with Wendy and Morton, she sat down in the rocking chair watching the seven younger children play a board game. Junior immediately crawled up onto her lap. The kids played nicely with each other for a while, but it wasn't long before the bickering began.

"Ha, I win, you guys suck," Roy bragged.

"Nuh-uh, you cheated! I saw you!" Wendy quickly screamed back at him.

"Did not," he replied. "You're just mad 'cause you lost."

"Actually…" Iggy added. "I'm quite sure we haven't even finished the game yet…"

"Oh really?"Roy asked him sarcastically, forming a fist with his hand and threateningly waving it in front of Iggy's face.

Iggy shut his eyes and trembled. "No, I was just kidding—you won! Please don't hurt me…"

"Do it! Do it!" Morton squealed.

All of the children then began screaming and yelling, urging them to fight. Peach decided that she needed to stop them before a full-blown battle ensued.  
"All right everyone. I think it's time to put the game away," she told them firmly. "Let's not fight. We'll have a nice chat instead, okay?"

The kids followed her orders and stopped fighting, some of them frowning, sad that nothing interesting had happened. They then pushed the game aside and sat down around her.

"Thank you," Peach said sweetly. "What would you like to talk about?"

"I dunno, anything!" Morton replied with a grin. "What do _you _want to talk about? Anything's good—I like talking about everything!"

"Yeah, we know," Roy whispered sarcastically to Wendy.

She giggled snobbishly in agreement.

"I can certainly tell that you like to talk. What else do you like to do? All of you. That's what we can talk about," Peach said cheerfully.

"Well, I like making myself look beautiful. You should let me give you a makeover sometime," Wendy told her smugly while adjusting the pink bow on her head.

"Oh… well I guess that sounds like… fun," Peach said with a small, unsure smile to make Wendy happy. However, she quickly changed the subject. "So Iggy, what about you?"

He instantly lit up and a grin appeared across his face. "I must say I'm quite good at math, and I absolutely love science. I even have my own lab," he told her, pointing to the door in the back of the room.

Wendy and Roy both rolled their eyes, annoyed.

"Yeah, well I like pounding nerds in their face," Roy snapped at his brother.

Frightened, Iggy pushed up his glasses and looked at the floor.

Throughout their entire conversation, Bowser Jr. had been seated on the princess's lap, furious that she was speaking to his siblings instead of him.

"Mama Peach," he said, trying to catch her attention.

She didn't hear him.

"Watch me! Look what I can do!" Lemmy cried, balancing atop his yellow ball.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Peach laughed, delighted.

Some of his siblings even smiled watching him perform his various tricks.

"Mama Peach," Junior said again, louder this time, and angrier as well.

"Just a minute, honey," she told him.

As they all continued chatting and laughing, even Larry decided that he wanted some of the attention.

After hesitating for a minute, he whispered, "P-Peach?" too quietly for her to hear.

Bowser Jr. heard him, however, and became enraged. He was about to push Larry away from her until Princess Peach caught his hand and gave him a stern look before continuing her conversation with the others. Junior was even more infuriated now, and crossed his arms, pouting as he became increasingly jealous of all of the other children.

Though Junior had treated him so rudely, Larry decided that he still wanted Peach's attention. He walked hear her and tapped on her shoulder as he stood on the tips of his toes. Bowser Jr. quickly caught sight of him and was furious.

"No! She's my Mama Peach! Don't touch her!" Junior screamed at him and slapped him on his face.

All of the children instantly stopped talking—even they were a bit surprised that he had done this. Stunned, Larry took a few steps back and trembled before tears began rolling down his face. Peach was startled, but was careful to maintain her composure.

"You are very tired. I think it's time for you to go to bed," she told Junior and picked him up from her lap.

"No I'm not! I don't wanna go to bed!" he whimpered as Peach began carrying him out of the playroom.

"Yes, you are."

He continued whining as they walked, but did not kick or scratch or do anything to hurt Peach.

"I'll be right back," the princess promised the other children just before she left the room.

They nodded back at her, still silent.

Peach continued carrying Junior down the hallway until they reached the last of the four bedrooms—his room. The children had shown her where the bedrooms were located earlier that day. She opened the door and stood Junior on the floor. Peach spied another rocking chair in this room, though she almost didn't notice it because it was covered in toys.

"Take a blanket off of your bed and bring it to me," Peach instructed him.

He only stood there looking back at her, puzzled.

"Well, go on," Peach said.

Reluctantly, Bowser Jr. pulled a soft red blanket off of the top of his bed and brought it over to the princess just as she had told him to do. Peach then finished cleaning the toys from the chair and sat down in it.

"All right, come here," she told Junior and motioned for him to come to her.

Still uncertain, he slowly walked over to her. Peach picked him up and sat him on her lap once more, wrapping the blanket around him.

"You've got to be nice to your brothers and sister," she whispered to him as they rocked.

"But…" Junior said, looking up at her. "You're _my _Mama Peach."

"I know you feel that way. I'm glad you do. But I want to get to know your siblings, too. I like spending time with all of you."

Junior didn't reply. He simply sighed and rested his head on Peach's shoulder. She wrapped her arms around him and sang softly. All of this was new to him, something he had never experienced before. However, by now he knew that he wasn't really in trouble. Any time he got to spend alone with Peach was good, and he decided that he rather liked it. In just a few minutes, he was soundly asleep.

Just then, Bowser had been roaming the hallways, making his way to the playroom to see what the princess was up to. He could hear Peach's singing as he walked closer to the bedrooms and decided to carefully peer into the room, making sure he was not seen. When he looked in, he grinned slyly again. He saw Peach so lovingly holding his youngest child and even saw her give him a tender kiss on his head once.

Peach rose from the chair and began walking toward Bowser Jr.'s bed. She carefully tucked him in and gave him one more gentle kiss before turning to leave the room. Bowser quickly moved away from the door and hurried around the corner, making sure that Peach didn't notice him as she advanced down the corridor, the playroom her destination. Bowser watched her walk down the hall. He couldn't help but smirk wickedly. His plan was working—better than he'd ever imagined it would.

---

"All right, I'm back," Peach announced as she walked back into the playroom."

Many children smiled back at her. They all were still sitting where they had been earlier.

"I'd like to talk to you all about some things," she said as she sat down.

They all looked at her, letting her know that they were listening.

Peach paused for a moment. "What exactly are all of these chores about?" she asked them. "Why do you have to do them?"

None of the children replied at first, though they all tried to come up with an answer. Some of the younger children were completely perplexed. It'd never crossed their minds why they were given the lobs—they just did them. Iggy knew the answer, but couldn't decide whether or not to tell her. He was hesitant to say anything negative about his father.

"Well, King Dad just gives them to us so that we can learn responsibility," he finally muttered.

"I suppose that makes sense," Peach replied. "But… there are an awful lot of servants here. Couldn't they be doing the chores instead?"

"Well yes, of course. But it's fine—really. We don't mind doing them," Iggy continued but then frowned. "At least… most of the time."

"Speak for yourself," Wendy sneered. "I hate doing them."

"Why is that, exactly?" the princess asked her.

"Because I never get to do anything fun. Every day I do stupid stuff, like cleaning," she answered with a scowl. "Things that Daddy says is 'girl stuff.'"

Peach sighed, realizing that this was exactly something that Bowser would say.

"It's not just having to do the chores that bothers me, exactly," Peach explained. "It's just that, well, they don't seem completely fair to everyone."

Every single one of the children instantly looked up at her, interested in what she was about to say.

"What do you mean?" Roy asked.

"Well," she began, lowering her voice. "Some of you have to do… more than others."

"Just like _some_ of us don't have to do anything," Wendy complained.

The rest of the children nodded.

"Exactly," Peach said, realizing that the children knew very well what she was talking about. "Why doesn't Bowser Jr. do anything? Is it because he's still quite young? How old were all of you when you started?"  
They all thought for a moment.

"Three, I think," Lemmy said.

"Yes, definitely three," Iggy added. "Because I remember Larry starting. That wasn't very long ago at all."

"But Junior is three years old, isn't he?" Peach asked, her suspicion increasing.

"Almost four," Roy murmured gloomily.

"Yes—and that's not at all fair, is it?" Peach continued.

No one said anything for quite some time.

"Let's just face it—King Dad likes Junior the best," Iggy finally acknowledged, frowning. "Because they look the same and act the same, it doesn't matter that he's the youngest."

"Yeah, and he gets to do fun stuff. Dad takes him with a lot when he goes out and does stuff, but we all have to stay in the castle," Morton interjected. "And he got to meet you way before we did."

"Yeah, he did," Lemmy said sadly. "That's not fair!"

"And he thinks that he gets to have all of your attention," Iggy added. "But we all want to talk to you, too."

"Yeah!" cried Morton. "We like you! You are nice and fun!"

The rest of the children nodded, grins spread across their faces.

Peach beamed. "Oh, thank you," she replied, thrilled to know that the children were beginning to like her as much as she liked them. "You are all so sweet."

She then stood up and embraced all six of the children at the same time. It was then that Peach realized just how much they all meant to her. She'd only just met the seven older kids, but still felt that she knew everything about all eight of them, as if they were her own children. She was enjoying their company so much that she almost didn't mind that the only reason she was there was because she had been kidnapped. She certainly wasn't happy to have been taken from her home, and she missed Mario terribly—she couldn't stop thinking about him, but spending time with the children made her feel much better.

"I like all of you too," Peach told the Koopalings. "More than you know."

Soon after, Peach realized how late it was.

"All right, it's been a long day," she said. "Let's all go to bed."

Surprisingly, none of the children objected to this, and followed the princess into the first chamber of the playroom. Peach knocked on the door of Ludwig's music room and peeped inside.

"Did you get much done tonight?" she asked him.

"Yes, a bit," he replied.

"I'm glad," Peach said, smiling. "The rest of us are going to bed now. Are you coming too?"

"Actually, I was planning on staying up a bit longer," he told her. "Is that all right?"

"I suppose so," Peach said, knowing he wanted all the time to play that he could get. "Good night, then."

"Good night," Ludwig replied, smiling briefly. Then he immediately resumed his composing.

Peach closed the door, then, and led the children to their bedrooms.

"Good night, everyone," she said sweetly. "I'll see you all in the morning."

---

"When is something gonna happen? I'm getting _so_ bored," Daisy complained as the three continued their endeavor.

Mario cringed as she said this, but tried not to pay any attention to her. The past two days had been tedious and wearying for everyone and it was true that nothing very interesting had happened just yet. They'd proven quite difficult for Daisy—she had no idea what these quests entailed before now. However, she'd kept quiet for the most part earlier in the day—until now.

"I'm hungry, too, and my feet hurt," she groaned.

Luigi was even beginning to get tired of her fussing and he could feel that Mario wouldn't be able to ignore her for much longer.

"Are you guys even listening to me?" Daisy yelled when neither brother answered her.

Mario immediately stopped walking. He couldn't stand Daisy's complaining any more. He grabbed Luigi's arm, and they walked a few steps in front of the princess. They argued with each other for a while. Mario sounded furious and annoyed and Luigi seemed rather apologetic as they spoke. Daisy was entirely left out of the conversation, not knowing what they were saying. In the middle of the discussion, Mario glanced back at Daisy with a scowl, and she immediately realized that they were talking about her. She couldn't understand a word they said. This was not because they spoke quietly to each other. They talked rather loudly—in Italian.

Daisy scowled.

"Hey, are you guys talking about me?" she screamed.

Neither brother answered, and continued speaking amongst themselves.

"Stop!" Daisy commanded. "I don't like this."

She was beginning to lose her temper and was close to throwing a fit.

Mario and Luigi finished their conversation, and Luigi quickly turned from his brother to tend to his own beloved princess.

"Daisy, please calm down," he told her, in words that she could understand, and sweetly held her hands in his own.

"Why are you talking about me?" she asked him, rubbing the angry tears from her eyes. "What were you saying?"

"Well…" Luigi hesitated. He had to think of a way to put this lightly and keep Daisy from becoming even more infuriated. "It's just that… I know not much is happening, but, well maybe… you could just try to be a little more patient?"

Daisy crossed her arms, a bit insulted. "So, you were talking about how annoying I am?" she asked.

"Well I… I mean we…" Luigi stammered nervously.

"Okay, fine," Daisy said. "I'll try to shut up since I'm just _so_ irritating."

Luigi frowned. "No, you're not, that's not what I meant, I just—" he began to say, until he was interrupted by his brother.

"Come on, you guys. Let's go," Mario said growing increasingly tired of the two tagging along with him.

They all continued on their journey, then, and Daisy managed to stay quiet for just a few minutes.

"I'm tired," she yawned, completely forgetting what Luigi had told her not long before.

Mario sighed and rolled his eyes, but Daisy didn't notice.

"And I'm cold, too. It's getting really dark. Can't we go to sleep soon?"

"Actually," Luigi said. "Maybe we should—it _is_ kind of late."

"Okay. All right then. We will," Mario sighed.

The three of them then found a clearing where they could rest for the night and hopefully not be bothered by anything.

"Do you guys seriously have to sleep outside when you're out here? On the ground every night?" Daisy asked. She still hadn't gotten used to the idea, and was not at all thrilled by it.

Mario began thinking after she said this. He certainly wouldn't have been going to sleep this early if the others weren't with him. As far as he was concerned, there was still plenty of time left to keep making their way to Princess Peach that night. Soon though, all three of them had made themselves as comfortable as was possible and began to fall asleep. Almost. Daisy still wasn't quite satisfied.

"I'm so cold," she whispered to Luigi, but certainly loud enough for Mario to hear. "Come and lay by me. Then I'll be warmer."

Happily, Luigi lay down next to Daisy. "Are you better now?" he asked.

"Much better," she giggled and threw her arms around him.

He smiled and hugged her back.

"I love you," Daisy said, and kissed him.

As they continued chatting and kissing, Mario became not only angry and annoyed, but sad as well. He wished that he could be spending time with his own princess. Seeing these two together only made him miss Peach even more, not to mention worry about how she was doing with Bowser.

"Okay you guys, go to sleep," Mario told Daisy and Luigi, who were still talking to each other.

Daisy looked at Luigi and smiled. They kissed one more time, and then everyone quickly fell asleep.

The three of them had accomplished quite a bit, but they had a long way to go before reaching Princess Peach.


	7. Chapter 7

Princess Peach woke up early the next morning, feeling better than she'd ever felt anticipating another day in Bowser's castle. As soon as she was ready, Peach strolled happily down the corridors toward the children's bedrooms, looking forward to seeing them once again. She turned the corner to the bedrooms just as a koopa troopa did from the other end of the hall—the same one that awakened her and the kids the day before.

"Good morning, Princess," he said, a bit surprised. "What are you doing up?"

Peach was startled meeting him as well. "I would like to wake the children today," she told him a bit nervously, hoping that she was not doing anything she wasn't supposed to be. "Is that all right?"

"Of course it is," he answered, sounding rather relieved. "It's one less thing I have to do."

Peach smiled sweetly at him, delighted. He politely smiled back and then turned to leave the children's wing and continue on with this busy day. The princess carefully opened the door to Wendy's tiny room and walked over to her bed.

"Wendy," Peach whispered, nudging her gently. "Time to wake up."

Wendy woke up, pleasantly surprised to find Princess Peach at her bedside and smiled a little. She sat up in her bed and stretched. Peach picked up the pink bow that was adorned with white polka dots from her nightstand and placed it on Wendy's head.

"There you go," she said kindly. "Now, go finish getting ready while I wake your brothers."

Wendy nodded and hopped down from her bed. She started to adjust her bow, but then smiled, discovering that Peach had put it on perfectly straight. The two walked out of her room. Wendy proceeded to the bathroom to finish preparing herself for breakfast and Peach continued on the next bedroom. She went to Ludwig first. By now she had learned that things were always done in meticulous order here.

"Good morning, Ludwig," she said. "Wake up."

He buried his face in the pillow on his bed, but did not wake up.

"It's time to get up now," Peach said again, and rubbed his shoulder a bit.

Ludwig woke up then, but had a very difficult time doing so. He was completely exhausted.

"Oh my…" Peach whispered, concerned. "How late did you stay up?"

"I don't know," he muttered wearily. "Probably until about four o'clock."

Peach sighed. "All right. I'll wake everyone else and then come back for you, okay?"

"Thank you," Ludwig answered and immediately fell asleep.

Peach walked to Lemmy's bed next, but found nothing but a spiked green shell sitting on it. Peach was puzzled for a moment, but couldn't help but smile. She knocked softly on the shell and the rest of Lemmy instantly popped out.

"Good morning, Lemmy," Peach giggled.

"Hi," he replied with a grin, then flipped off of the end of his bed and scurried out of the room to get ready for the day.

Peach woke up Roy next, and then moved to the next room to wake Iggy, Morton, and Larry. At this point, all but two children were up and busily making their way to the bathroom to prepare themselves. Peach had one more room to enter—Junior's.

"Good luck with him," Roy quipped as Peach began opening his door.

"Thank you, but I think he'll be nice to me," Peach replied, though she was a bit unsure whether or not he would be.

However, she took a deep breath and walked inside.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Peach whispered to Bowser Jr. and gently kissed the side of his forehead.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and rubbed them, yawning.

"Mama Peach," he said sleepily and smiled at her.

She smiled back and helped him climb out of his bed and into the hallway where most of the other children were standing, waiting for the rest of their siblings to get ready to walk to the dining room.

"Why don't all of you go to breakfast now," Peach told the seven younger children. "Ludwig and I will be there shortly."

They agreed and began making their way down the hallway. The princess returned to the three oldest boys' room to try to wake up Ludwig again.

"All right," she told him. "Everyone else has left already."

"Okay, I'm up," Ludwig replied with a yawn.

Soon after, the two walked toward the dining room as well.

"You're not going to tell my father about this, are you?" Ludwig asked Peach as they walked.

"Of course I'm not," she answered.

She would never dream of doing such a thing. Even though she wasn't entirely happy that he'd gone to bed so late, she completely understood why he did. He was by far the child who was allowed to enjoy the least amount of freedom, and she felt very sorry for him.

"Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome," Peach replied. "But you really shouldn't stay up _that_ late. You must be exhausted."

"Well, yes. I am. But it was worth it."

"What do you mean?"

A grin spread across Ludwig's face.

"I finished the piece I was working on."

"That's wonderful," Princess Peach cried, smiling. "I can't wait to hear it."

The two of them then reached the large double doors of the dining room. Ludwig opened the door and allowed the princess to enter first, then followed her inside and took his seat at the table, not quite looking forward to the chores he would soon be given. The servants walked out of the kitchen in a line and served breakfast to everyone, and the day continued on as usual.

---

When breakfast was over, Peach walked through the corridors of Bowser's castle with Bowser Jr.'s hand in one of hers and Larry's hand in the other. She and the only two children who did not have any chores to do were, of course, going back to the playroom to spend their morning. Junior ran straight for his crayons as soon as they entered the room and immediately began drawing. Peach and Larry sat down next to him, watching intently. He sketched for quite a while and soon, the drawing began to take form. As he added more colors and shaped, Peach could easily tell that he had drawn two of his brothers—Iggy and Lemmy. In the next few minutes, he concentrated solely on his drawing and then added the final details. When he was finished, he simply signed the paper "JR" in the bottom left corner.

"That was nice of you," Peach cooed, happy that he had done something nice for his siblings. "Will you show it to them? I'm sure they'd like it."

He shrugged. Junior had been so focused on his artwork that he hadn't noticed what his brother was up to—until now. Larry had decided that he wanted to color, too. He chose a coloring book from the shelf and flipped through the pages until he found one that Junior hadn't already filled in and began scribbling. He was nowhere near as good an artist as his younger brother was, but even so, he was very much enjoying himself. Bowser Jr. continued listening to the princess's praise until he spotted his brother destroying his book.

"No! Stop!" he yelled and snatched the book away from Larry. "That's mine!"

Larry pouted, but didn't seem at all startled. Peach sighed. With every one of these outbursts, Bowser Jr.'s temperament and the personalities of the other children were becoming more and more evident to her. She didn't even bother to scold him; she knew it wouldn't help. Even though she loved these children and was enjoying being with them, she was becoming increasingly homesick as the hours passed.

---

All of the children had now finished their chores for the day and met in the playroom, passing the time until dinner was ready. Roy was standing in the doorway, chatting with Morton and Wendy. Looking for Princess Peach, Bowser Jr. had planned to enter the second room but could not get by, due to Roy blocking the way.

"Move," Junior demanded rudely, while trying to push Roy out of the way.

He did not budge.

"What'd you say?" Roy snarled.

"I said get out of my way, you big, stupid jerk!" Junior snapped back at him, quickly beginning to lose his temper.

"You better watch it, brat."

Bowser Jr. scowled. "I'm not scared of you," he said.

Roy snickered. "You should be," he said. "You're just a scrawny wimp."

"I am not!" Junior screamed. "I could beat you up!"

"I'd like to see you try," Roy snorted with a burst of laughter.

Junior scowled again, absolutely infuriated. He then jumped on his brother with so much force that he caused him to fall on his back. Bowser Jr. began beating on Roy, mercilessly throwing punch after punch. He was much stronger than he looked. The entire room turned to complete chaos. The children ran rampant, excited and enthralled by the fight, eager to find out who would win.

"Ow! Get offa me!" Roy pleaded. "Stop!"

When Peach heard the commotion, she immediately ran into the room, fearing what she might find there. As soon as she saw what was happening, her jaw dropped and she almost began to cry. She found herself unable to say a word because she was so shocked. The princess made her way around the crowd of children watching the brawl, and pulled Junior off of Roy, desperately hoping that no one else would get hurt. He tried to wriggle out of her arms, but Peach held a tight grasp on him.

"Help him," the princess was able to whisper to the other children.

Morton and Wendy hurried over to Roy and helped him off of his back and onto his feet. He wiped his nose to find it bleeding a bit, and bruises were beginning to become visible on his face.

"Are you okay?" Wendy asked him, worried. She was the only child who had been concerned about him instead of urging on the fight.

"He just… you…" Morton stammered, still filled with excitement. "He totally rocked you!"

"Shut up!" Roy growled. "I didn't want to hit him back! The brat would have just gone and told King Dad, and then he'd be pissed at me!"

"Whatever," Morton laughed. "He knocked you right onto your shell—you couldn't do anything."

Roy was too tired and embarrassed to snap back at him, not to mention racked with pain.

Junior had, for the most part, calmed down and was still being held in Princess Peach's arms.

"Let's go eat then," she finally declared, once she decided that the ordeal was completely over.

Peach then let go of Junior and stood him on the floor. The children then filed out of the playroom and into the hallway without saying a word. As they walked, Peach was careful to make sure that Roy and Bowser Jr. stood nowhere near each other, fearful that another battle could begin.

The events of the evening had made the princess and the Koopalings a bit late for dinner. Bowser stood waiting for them in the dining room as they entered.

"What happened to you?" Bowser asked Roy, seeing the bruises on his face.

He didn't answer, though many of the other children giggled under their breath.

"Well?" Bowser asked again.

"Junior did that," Morton couldn't help but divulge. "He just knocked him down and started hitting him."

Roy angrily glared at Morton.

"Is that true?" Bowser asked his youngest son.

Junior nodded. His father laughed and patted him on his back.

"That's my boy," he said, proudly.

Peach scowled. "Don't reward him for being mean to his siblings," she cried, outraged.

This comment made Bowser rather annoyed.

"Listen, Peach," he growled, pulling her aside. "I will raise my kids however I want to. And you will not tell me otherwise."

He then grinned snidely. "At least, not yet," he thought to himself.

After dinner was over, the children had not calmed down at all. In fact, they were even more unruly than they had been before. The room was filled with the noise of the children chatting, arguing, and laughing, and Princess Peach was becoming overwhelmed. She stood silently in the middle of the room watching everything that was taking place around her, completely unsure of how to react.

"Would you like to hear it now, Princess Peach?" Ludwig asked, tapping her on the shoulder.

Peach had been so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even hear him.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "What did you say?"

"The new piece I just wrote," he answered. "You said you wanted to hear it. I'll play it for you, if you'd like."

"Oh, of course," she said. "In a few minutes, all right?"

He grinned. "Okay, I'll be in my room."

Just then, Lemmy quickly dashed by the princess on his yellow ball, and Iggy ran after him a moment later.

"Hey, wait for me!" Iggy shouted as he darted across the room. He couldn't seem to keep up.

Lemmy stopped abruptly when he heard his brother calling—so quickly that Iggy didn't have time to stop running, and the two crashed right into each other and fell onto the floor.

"Are you all right?" Peach gasped, running over to them.

They both rubbed their sore foreheads and Iggy adjusted his glasses that had almost fallen off of his face.

"Ow…" Iggy groaned, and Lemmy giggled.

On the other side of the room, Wendy sat on the floor playing with a koopa girl doll—her favorite toy and one that she'd had for as long as she could remember. She dressed her in a pretty purple frock and braided her soft, lime-green hair contentedly.

"Look at Wendy playing with dolls!" Roy said, laughing as he walked by and ripped it from her hands. "What a sissy."

"Hey! Give her back to me!" Wendy demanded and sprang up to her feet.

"Don't you think you're a little old for this thing?" Roy asked.

He then threw the doll to Morton who stood behind Wendy, and he tossed it back to Roy. Wendy tried to catch the doll but could not.

"Stop!" she cried, furious. "You're going to break her!"

Roy laughed rudely. "Try to take it from me," he said, and held Wendy's doll high above his head.

She tried to grab it but couldn't reach. She was becoming not only frustrated, but also increasingly infuriated with her brothers.

"Give it back!" she shouted. "It's mine!"

However, Roy did not return the doll to his sister. Wendy then completely lost her temper. She did the only thing she could think of—she clenched her fists, took a deep breath, and screamed. Her scream was earsplitting and lasted for quite a while. Everyone heard her, including Ludwig. He immediately emerged from his music room to see what was going on.

"Wendy, calm down!" he said, in effort to quiet her.

"Okay, you can have the stupid doll back," Roy told her and dropped it onto the floor.

Wendy stopped screaming and picked it up. She stuck her tongue out at Roy and scowled.

After this incident, Peach knew she had to leave the room. She was dangerously close to having a breakdown. Many thoughts crossed her mind as she stood outside the door to the playroom. She now knew that the children were not exactly as sweet as they had appeared to be when she first met them. She knew why this was. All eight of the children were desperately vying for attention—any kind, whether good or bad. Because of everything that had happened, the princess could not help but shed a few tears—until Ludwig found her.

"There you are," he said. "Will you come and listen to me now?"

"Oh, yes, I suppose so," she answered.

She had completely forgotten that she's promised to hear his piece. She wasn't exactly in the mood to listen, but did not want to disappoint him.

"All right," Ludwig said smiling. He then made his way to his room and Princess Peach followed.

He sat down in front of the piano, barely able to contain his excitement. After playing for Peach the night before, he realized how much he loved performing—especially his own compositions—and was eager to begin, feeling not the least bit nervous. He quickly glanced up at the princess to make sure she was listening, and she managed to smile back at him a little. He then began playing. Peach was not listening very closely at first. Her mind was elsewhere. However, as he continued further and further into the piece, something came over her. The only thing she could think about was the night of the ball and how happy she was being with her friends and dancing with Mario, until Bowser showed up and ruined everything. She realized, then, that she thought of this because the song that Ludwig played sounded strikingly similar to the one that was playing just before she was kidnapped. Princess Peach could not hold back her tears any longer. She quickly ran out of the room and back into the hallway. She sat on the floor, buried her face in her hands, and wept.

She sat there for quite some time thinking about everything, and though she terribly missed Mario and the rest of her friends and so badly wanted to return home, this cry made her feel a little better. Soon after, she had calmed down and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She contemplated returning to the playroom—until the door opened from the inside. Bowser Jr. walked out into the hallway when he saw Peach there. He could tell she had been crying and didn't say anything. He only stared at her, wondering what was wrong.

"Are you ready for bed?" she asked him, with a sniffle.

He slowly nodded. Peach rose to her feet and walked him to his room. She sat in the chair and he crawled up onto her lap. They sat rocking for a while, neither saying a word. Peach held him close, hoping to console herself, but it only proved to make her feel even more lonely and she began to cry again. She tried to be quiet in order not to worry him, but he heard her.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he looked up at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Go to sleep, sweetheart," she replied.

Junior looked at her for a few more moments, knowing she wasn't telling him the truth. Realizing that there was nothing he could to do to make her feel better, he laid his head on her shoulder and soon fell asleep. Peach picked him up and put him into his big, cozy bed. She then left his room and carefully closed the door, as not to wake him.

The princess decided that she would return to the Koopalings' playroom just one more time to tell them goodnight before she went to bed. As she began walking she rubbed her eyes again to make her tears less obvious. When she did this, however she wasn't paying attention to where she was going and bumped right into Bowser. He had been watching her for the past few minutes but she hadn't noticed.

Startled, Peach tried to take a few steps back when she saw that it was him, but he put his arm around her waist and drew her closer to him.

"What's wrong, Peach?" he asked her with a smirk. "Why are you crying?"

"It's nothing," Peach lied.

She tried to escape from him but could not. She could feel that something was very wrong—Bowser was up to something, and she was afraid to find out what it was.

"Oh, but there must be _something _bothering you," he said, the chilling grin appearing on his face again. "Don't worry. I'll make you feel much better."

"No, that's all right, I'm fine. Really."

"Don't be shy. Come with me."

Bowser tightened his grasp on her and walked her through the hallways of his castle. Peach's heart raced the entire time. She wanted to get away from him, but knew that she wasn't strong enough. She was terrified.

Soon, the two began walking through passages that the princess had never seen before. They were very dimly light by only the occasional torch that lined the wall and Peach could hardly see where they were going. They walked further and further into the castle until Bowser stopped in front of an enormous door at the end of one of the corridors.

"Here we are," Bowser said slyly.

He opened the door and entered the room, pulling her in with him, and locked it behind them. Peach looked around and immediately shuddered when she realized where she was—this was Bowser's bedroom.


	8. Chapter 8

"Why did you take me here?" Peach asked, her heart beating even faster than before.

"Oh, I think you know," Bowser replied. "I could tell you were lonely, and I wanted to cheer you up."

The princess's voice shook as she spoke. "There is nothing _you_ can do to make me feel better. I just want to go back home."

She then began crying again. "I miss Mario."

Bowser scowled. "Forget about him," he said. Another of his sinister grins then appeared on his face and he stared into her eyes. "I have you now.

A chill ran up her spine. Peach tried to run away, but wasn't fast enough. Bowser grabbed her shoulders and held her as close to him as was possible, and began to kiss her. She tried to break out of his grasp but it was far too tight. This kiss was different than any he'd ever given her before—it was serious and Peach was terrified to think about what he was planning to do next.

"Stop! Please!" she pleaded, pushing his face away from hers.

Bowser didn't stop until he realized that she was sobbing. He knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to make her any more upset, and had not intended to hurt her. When he saw how frightened she was, he decided to loosen his hold on her a bit and tried to calm her down.

"All right, fine," he said. "I know you've had a long day. Let's just go to bed."

"To… bed?" she repeated. His suggestion did not make her feel any better.

"Look. I'm not going to do anything to you," Bowser said. He then smiled snidely. "Unless, or course, you want me to."

Peach glared at him angrily.

"Well, come on," Bowser told her as he walked toward his bed.

Peach didn't know what to do. She nervously looked around the room trying to figure out how to escape, but she knew that she had no other choice and only stood there, silently. Bowser looked back and saw that she was not following him. Impatiently, he took a few steps closer to Peach and grabbed her wrist in an effort to lead her to his bed. Peach quickly jerked her arm away from him.

"All right," she said gloomily. "I'm coming."

Princess Peach then walked over to Bowser's bed and very hesitantly climbed into it. Bowser did, too, and lay down. After a moment, Peach did as well, still incredibly scared. She moved as far away from him as she could and tucked the blankets underneath her. She then shut her eyes and tried to fall asleep.

Bowser suddenly reached over to the princess and put his arm around her waist and pulled her next to him.

Peach gasped. "What are you doing?" she asked, alarmed. She tried to move his arm off her but was unable to do so.

"I said I wasn't going to do anything," he said. "But I didn't promise not to even touch you. Besides, you know you like it, just admit it."

Peach frowned. "Absolutely not," she said. "Just go to sleep."

"Good night, my love," Bowser told her with a smirk.

He knew that it was almost time to set his plan in motion.

---

The next morning, Peach awoke to find Bowser's arm still rightly wrapped around her, and he was asleep. She carefully tried to pry him off but was having little success.

"Come on, let go," she whispered.

Bowser grunted and shifted a bit. Surprised, Peach looked behind her at him, but found that he had not waked up. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief and then continued trying to free herself. She tried desperately to pull his arm away, but simply could not. This made her very frustrated—so much so that she didn't realize how hard she was tugging.

"What exactly are you doing?" Bowser suddenly asked her. All of her struggling had caused him to wake up.

Startled, Peach jumped a bit and nervously gulped.

"I have to wake the children," she muttered fearfully.

"No you don't. I have plenty of servants to do stuff like that."

"But, I—" she said, but was abruptly interrupted by Bowser.

"You really like my kids, don't you," he said, letting go of her.

Peach lit up a bit. "Well, yes. I do. I've been talking to them quite a bit the last few days," she told him, even smiling a little. "I really feel like I've gotten to know them very well—almost like they're my own children."

Bowser smirked. He knew that this was the perfect opportunity for his scheme to unfold. "Well you know, you could be my children's mother."

"Excuse me?" Peach asked, her heart beginning to race again.

"You could have your own kid," he told her, smiling wickedly again. "_With me._"

Horrified, the princess quickly slid away from him and grimaced. "Never. I would never do that," she screamed, appalled.

"Fine then," Bowser said. "You're not allowed to see or talk to any of my kids until you do." He hadn't expected her to agree with his suggestion, but knew that this condition just might make her change her mind.

Tears immediately began rolling down her face. "No, you can't do that to me—that's not fair!"

"Yes I can," he answered. "They're _my_ kids."

Bowser and Peach then stepped out of bed and walked toward the door.

"So it's a deal, then," Bowser declared, unlocking the door. "You will not go anywhere near my kids until you decide to have one with me."

"No, I did not agree to this!"

"I don't care," he answered. He then opened the door allowing Princess Peach to leave his bedroom. "That's the deal. I'll see you at lunch."

Peach looked at him for a minute, still crying. She left his room and made her way to her own bedroom in his castle, barely able to believe the conversation that had just taken place. She walked for what seemed to her like a very long time, and was too busy thinking about everything that was going on that she barely paid attention to the walls around her. When she finally looked up, Peach quickly realized that she was wandering through the Koopalings' very small wing of the immense castle. The hallways were completely silent, and Peach decided that the children must have already gone to eat breakfast. She sighed dismally and stepped into their playroom. As she looked around, she instantly remembered all of the time she'd spent there the last few days and frowned. The things that had occurred in this room had helped to make this stay in Bowser's castle the best she's ever had, but now she knew that it was all over. The princess wiped the tears from her eyes and left the room, knowing that staying there any longer would only make her feel worse and continued on to her own room. Once she arrived there, she went inside and closed the door. Peach walked over to the vanity table at the far end of the room and sat down in front of it. She picked up the brush and ran it through her long locks before falling deep in thought once more.

"These poor children," she mused. "I can't believe he would use them like this."

She sighed.

"No. I can believe it. This is exactly the kind of thing that Bowser would do. He's awful!"

Peach then lay down in her bed, dreading the rest of the time that she would have to spend in the castle. The room was completely silent, and she hated it. The day before, the constant chatter of the kids had proven to be too much for her, but now she greatly missed it. She only wished that she could be with all eight of her beloved children again, but was in no way willing to keep up her end of Bowser's horrible deal.

The best time she'd ever experienced while kidnapped had quickly turned into a miserable one just like all the times before it, and Peach decided that the only thing she could do now way hope that she'd get to return home very soon.

"Mario, please hurry," she whispered.

---

"I was playing piano for her last night and she just started crying and ran away—that was the last time I saw her," Ludwig told Iggy as they halfheartedly played a game of chess before lunch.

Peach running out during his performance the night before had left Ludwig in no mood to play any more today.

"Why did she do that?" Iggy asked as he took his turn. "Did you do something wrong?"

"I'm not sure. I didn't think the song was that bad."

The children were surprised when Princess Peach had not come back to the playroom to tell them good night the evening before and even more so when she was absent at breakfast in the morning. No one had any idea where she had gone, but they all wanted to find out.

"Well, I don't think it was your fault, exactly," Iggy continued. "What I mean is, some of us were quite rude yesterday." He then glanced at Roy.

"Who, me?" Roy snarled, knowing that his brother was accusing him of causing the princess's disappearance. "Don't blame me, the brat started it."

Bowser Jr. scowled. By now, all of the Koopalings had gathered around to join in the conversation.

"I didn't do it!" Junior snapped. "Mama Peach likes me way more than all of you!"

"Nuh-uh! She likes all of us! She told us!" Morton exclaimed.

"Well, she was lying!"

"She was not," Wendy retorted. "Why do you think she likes you so much, anyway? You're just a spoiled little—"

"Yeah!" Morton interrupted. "Why would anyone like you?"

The Koopalings had no idea of what had went on between the princess and their father that morning and the night before, and had assumed that they were the reason that Peach wasn't there. Even so, nobody wanted to take responsibility for this. The children furiously argued, placing the blame on each other for why the princess had left them. Nearly all of them yelled and screamed—some even forgetting that they were trying to figure out what had happened to Peach and ended up simply insulting their siblings for no reason at all, until Ludwig decided that he needed to put a stop to it.

"Everyone, shut up! Are you even listening to yourselves?" he said. "It's no wonder Princess Peach doesn't want to be around us."

They all stopped, knowing that he was exactly right.

"Doesn't she like us anymore?" Larry asked, meekly.

"I don't know," Ludwig answered with a sigh. "I think most of us did some things yesterday that she didn't like."

Iggy frowned. "I feel awful. I want to apologize to her."

"Well, in case she ever comes back," Ludwig declared. "We have to make it up to her.

All of the children nodded their heads in agreement and then went to eat their lunch.

---

"Come on Peach, you and me are going to go eat now," Bowser said, pounding on the door to the princess's bedroom.

She was so startled that she couldn't even say anything at first. She was still daydreaming and had lost track of the time, so Bowser's arrival at her room was very unexpected.

"Open the door!" he demanded. Peach had locked the door to the bedroom she was staying in, and Bowser became furious when he realized that he had forgotten to bring a key along with him to open it.

The princess was frightened hearing the rage in his voice, and did not want to see him.

"No, I'm not coming out of here," she told him nervously. "I don't want to eat anything."

"Listen, Princess," he growled, even more enraged now. "I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Open the door, now!"

She then reluctantly opened the bedroom door, not wanting to make Bowser any angrier than he already was, and slowly looked up at him. She remained silent and it was obvious that she was very upset, but Bowser didn't care.

"I knew you'd come," he told her with an arrogant smile. "You just couldn't wait to see me again."

Peach frowned. These sarcastic remarks from Bowser were really beginning to irritate her, and she still didn't say anything to him.

"Well, let's go," Bowser told her after a pause.

He took her hand and led her through the corridors and walked until they reached their destination. When they got there, Peach's heart sank and the events of the morning became even more upsetting to her. Bowser opened the door and nudged her inside and he followed. The two of them were now standing in the tiny dull room where they had eaten meals together all of the times she was taken to his castle before. This dining room was dingy and dim; the complete opposite of the exquisite room with the enormous table in the center and a wall full of windows that she'd spent the last few days in with the children, and also very different from her own home.

Bowser led Peach over to her chair and she sat down. Bowser took his seat as well, and began eating as soon as a koopa troopa from the kitchen entered the room to serve them. Bowser started to quickly devour his lunch, but Peach didn't touch hers. She was too upset to eat anything. She glanced at Bowser, repulsed to see him eating so ravenously, and then promptly looked away.

"What's your problem?" he asked her. He'd seen her look at him and stopped eating for a minute. "Why aren't you eating?"

"Nothing's wrong. It's just…I'm not hungry," Peach lied, still not looking at him. She was rather hungry, but she didn't want to eat. And there definitely was something wrong.

"So," Bowser finally said after a long pause. A sly grin began to appear on his face. "Have you changed your mind yet?"

Peach glared at him, furiously. "Of course I haven't," she said.

"Are you sure?" Bowser replied. "You probably really miss those kids—"

Enraged, the princess abruptly stood up and scowled. "May I please be excused?" she interrupted.

He thought for a moment. "Fine, you can go," he said. "I'll see you again soon."

Bowser watched her as she left the small dining room. He could tell that she was miserable without his children, and was confident that she would soon give in.

Peach stormed back to her bedroom and slammed the door behind her when she arrived there. She then sat down in front of the door and sighed. She was angrier now than she was sad, but still very unhappy. Peach really did miss the children—and she missed Mario. She felt worse and worse as the day dragged on, and she wondered how she would be able to endure much more of this.


	9. Chapter 9

Two entire days had passed since Bowser initiated his cruel plan, and both of them had been completely miserable for Princess Peach. She had spent most of these days lying in her bed crying. She wondered if Mario was all right and she wanted to know what Princess Daisy was up to. She thought about what might be going on in her own castle—she could only imagine how worried Toadsworth must have been about her, and this made her feel terrible. She wanted nothing more than to go back home.

"He _must_ be coming soon," Peach told herself, hopeful that she would soon be rescued.

The princess then sat up in her bed and looked at the clock hanging above the door. It was eight o'clock in the evening, and she began to think.

"I can't take this anymore," she thought."I have to see them."

Peach stood up, wiped the tears from her eyes and opened the door of her bedroom. She hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and began to walk down the hallway. Many thoughts crossed her mind on the way to the Koopalings' playroom. She walked slowly, carefully looking around every corner to make sure that she wouldn't be seen. She knew how easily she could be caught—the castle was crawling with servants—but she was willing to take the risk.

"I'll just tell them good night," Peach told herself. "No one will see me. At least…I hope not."

The princess then reached the playroom. Very carefully, she looked all around her, making sure that there was no chance of anyone seeing her. When Peach was confident that nobody was around, she slowly opened the playroom door and stepped inside.

She looked around the room in complete awe. She hardly recognized it as the place that she'd made so many wonderful memories in a few days before. The entire room was spotless. There wasn't a single toy on the floor, and everything was neatly placed exactly where it belonged. A smile spread across Peach's face, but it didn't last long. She quickly noticed how quiet it was and wondered what everyone was up to.

"Where is everyone?" Peach wondered. "They couldn't have gone to bed yet."

She peeked into the next chamber and saw all eight children sitting there, silently playing games with each other. Peach frowned. The kids seemed very sad, and even a bit bored. They were acting much different than before.

"What are you all doing?" the princess asked them.

The Koopalings stopped what they were doing and immediately looked toward the doorway. When they saw Peach standing there, they grinned and swiftly dashed over to her.

"Peach!" they squealed delighted, crowding around to hug her.

"I'm so happy to see you all!" Peach gushed.

She hugged and gently kissed each child and then returned to the first chamber and sat down so that she could speak with the children. They all sat around her, overjoyed that that the princess was with them once more.

"Where have you been?" Morton excitedly asked her. "I really missed you!"

"So did I!" Lemmy chimed in.

"We all missed you," Ludwig told her.

"I missed you all, too," Peach said.

"But…where did you go?" Wendy asked. "Why did you leave us?"

"Did we do something to make you mad?" Iggy asked. "I mean, I know we all did some things that day that weren't very nice, so I could understand if—"

"No, it had nothing to do with anything that any of you did," Peach assured them.

"Well, why then?" Wendy asked again.

Peach wasn't entirely sure how to answer. She didn't want them to know what had actually happened, but she also didn't want the children to think that her disappearance was their fault.

"Well, it's just that…I just couldn't come to see you for a while," Peach finally answered. "But I really wanted to."

"Really, you don't have to say that," Ludwig said with a frown. "We were being terrible."

"And we feel awful about it," Iggy added. "So we decided to be good now."

"Yeah! Look!" Morton cried. "We even cleaned the whole playroom. We put everything away."

"Yes, and we have been trying very hard not to fight with each other," Ludwig told her.

Peach was touched."You did all of that for me?" she asked.

"Of course we did," Iggy said."We just wanted to make you happy again."

"That is so sweet," Peach said, smiling. "But you really didn't have to!"

"We wanted to," Roy answered.

"Yeah, because you were so nice to us," Wendy continued. She then paused for a moment. "You called me a princess. Nobody ever said that before. It was the best thing anyone ever told me."

"And you listen to my music," Ludwig added with a slight smile. "I've never really played it for anyone before—you did think it was all right, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," she replied. "You are a very talented musician."

He beamed proudly.

"You play with us, and you talk to us," Morton bubbled. "And you just...be with us. That's why we like you!"

"You're going to make me cry," Princess Peach told them children as tears began to fill her bright blue eyes.

These tears were much different than the ones she had been crying for the last several days. The way she felt was completely opposite of the misery she had been experiencing just a few hours before. The things the kids had just told her were some of the most wonderful things she had ever heard, and she instantly knew that it was worth being kidnapped to be able to spend time with them. She then embraced all of the children at the same time, happy tears now running down her cheeks. "I love all of you so much."

Just then, the same servant who had tended to the princess since she's arrived at Bowser's castle was wandering through the hallways of the Koopalings' wing. Wearily, he trudged on finding nothing of interest until he reached the door of the playroom and quickly stopped. The koopa carefully peered into the room through the door that had been left open a crack, and found exactly what he had expected to see.

"I thought I heard her," he mused with a sigh.

His first thought was to ignore it and keep walking—to pretend as though he hadn't seen Princess Peach speaking with the children—but he decided that he could not do so. He remembered the strict orders that he'd been given from King Bowser to guard this part of the castle, and that if he ever saw the princess with any of the children he was to immediately report back to him. Bowser had assured him that he was not going to hurt the princess, but the servant had a feeling that Peach would be in deep trouble if Bowser found out that she was here. He didn't want anything to happen to her, but he also didn't want to be punished, and he knew that this would likely happen if he didn't tell his master what he had seen.

After hesitating for a long moment, the servant finally whispered, "Princess, I'm so sorry I have to do this," and then continued through the corridors to find Bowser.

Completely unaware that the koopa had seen her, Princess Peach happily carried on her conversation with the Koopalings. She was enjoying the evening so much that she had nearly forgotten that she was forbidden to see them. For the next few minutes, all of the children excitedly chatted with each other and with Peach just as they had done before and the princess was thrilled to see them acting normally again.

"I am so happy that I got to meet all of you," she told them all, smiling.

"Mama Peach?" Bowser Jr. whispered to her after a while.

"Yes, sweetheart?" Peach answered.

"You're not going to go away again, are you? You're going to stay here for a long time, right?"

She picked Junior up and sat him on her lap, not sure how to answer.

"Well," she began, with all of the children closely listening to what she was about to tell them. "I'm not exactly sure how long I'll be here. But I'm afraid it might not be much longer."

The Koopalings frowned.

"But, I thought you liked being with us," Lemmy said.

"I do," she assured him.

"Then why do you want to leave us?" Junior asked Peach again, looking up at her sadly.

The princess felt terrible seeing how upset the children had become after she had told them all of this. It was true that she had very much enjoyed their company while she was here, but she simply could not wait until Mario would come and bring her back home.

"I don't want to leave you," she said. "It's just that—"

The playroom doors suddenly flung open with a crash. Frightened, Peach and all of the children became completely silent. Bowser stepped into the room and walked over to them all. Junior quickly crawled down from Peach's lap. None of the kids knew what was going on, but they could tell that something was wrong. Bowser grabbed Princess Peach's hand and pulled her next to him.

"You must be ready now," he said to her, grinning wickedly.

"No, please," Peach pleaded.

"We had a deal, remember?" Bowser said, and then walked her out of the playroom and through the passages of the castle, heading for his bedroom once again.

The children remained standing in the playroom, speechless and baffled. They spent a long moment looking at each other with shocked expressions spread across their faces.

"Wh…what just happened?" Morton stammered.

No one answered.

---

Bowser and Princess Peach had made the excruciating journey through the castle and were now standing in front of his bedroom door. Peach was completely panic-stricken, even more so than she was the first time she'd been here. Bowser opened the door but Peach refused to step inside—mostly because she was too scared to even move. Bowser impatiently nudged her into the room and followed, quickly shutting the door and locking it. He smiled coldly at her, and the princess knew that she had to get away from him. She tried to take a few steps back, but Bowser ran over to her and pushed her up against the wall, trapping her in his firm grasp and began kissing her again.

The princess's heart raced, and she was terrified.

"I can't let him do this to me," she thought, and tried to come up with a plan to stop him.

She tried to release herself from his arms but realized that she was much too weak to do so. As Bowser continued to kiss her, he ran his fingers through her soft, fair hair along the nape of her neck and began trying to unzip her dress.

Alarmed, Peach gasped and tried to jerk herself away from him.

"No, please! Stop!" she sobbed. "You're horrible! To me and to your children!"

Her desperate cries instantly caused something to come over him. He realized that what he was doing was not right. He knew that he was hurting her, and wondered what she meant by what she had just told him. Bowser stopped and let go of Peach.

"What do you mean? How am I horrible to them?" he asked.

"You are," Peach answered with a frown. "You take advantage of them."

He scowled. "I do not. I just—"

"Let me finish," Peach interrupted. She had suddenly found the strength to tell him what she felt. "Of course you do. You're exploiting them right now—you knew how much I love them and wanted to see them, so you came up with this awful scheme. You insist that they do all of these chores, and unless they're doing something that benefits you, you completely ignore them."

"I've told you before, they are my kids, and I can do whatever I want with them."

"They're your children, and you should love them and care for them," she snapped, and then paused for a moment. "Why do you want to have a baby with me, anyway?"

Bowser hesitated for a minute, thinking about what the princess had just said.

"Because," he said."If we did have one, you would have to stay with me. You could never leave."

Peach was outraged, and a disgusted look spread across her face. "I cannot believe you just said that. That just proves how terrible you are."

The things she said were beginning to make Bowser furious. In an effort to defend himself, he growled, "Fine, maybe I use them sometimes. But that's the only thing they're good for!"

Peach frowned, and found herself on the verge of tears. "You don't have any idea how lucky you are to have them. You treat them terribly. You're completely unfair. You have a favorite and they all know it."

She then sighed and looked at the floor. "All they want is for you to love them, and you don't even care."

Bowser did not know how to reply. He became angrier with every word that the princess spoke.

"And the worst thing of all," Peach continued, rubbing the tears from her eyes. "is that you know absolutely nothing about them."

He glared at her. "Of course I know them," he snarled.

"You might think you do," Peach said. "But there is much more to them than you know."

The scowl on Bowser's face faded, and he did not answer her. He knew that all the things she had just told him were entirely true, but he was not willing to admit it.

"Well, it's late," Bowser finally sighed. "Let's just go to sleep."

Peach was satisfied knowing that she had clearly made her point, and relieved that nothing had happened between them. She crawled into Bowser's bed knowing that he was not going to harm her, but kept a safe distance from him, and the two soon fell asleep, their backs turned against each other.


	10. Chapter 10

The past day had been action-packed for Mario, Luigi, and Daisy. It was intense; filled with battles to be fought and obstacles to be overcome. Everyone was tired, but they diligently continued traveling, as they knew that every encounter brought them one step closer to rescuing Princess Peach.

"There it is!" Mario exclaimed. "We are almost there!"

The three had reached the top of an enormous hill they had been climbing, and Bowser's castle was now in sight. Even though it was well into the middle of the night, Mario was more eager than ever to proceed, but the others weren't so sure. Daisy hesitantly smiled at Mario, but the smile faded as she gazed at the fortress in front of her. It was surrounded by bright, bubbling lava and the skies around it were dark and ominous. She was scared—incredibly so—but was careful not to show it. Daisy glanced at Luigi and saw a worried look on his face, which made her even more unsure about the situation.

"Come on, let's go!" Mario cried after a few moments, and had already begun running toward Bowser's castle.

Daisy and Luigi meekly smiled at each other, took hold of each others' hand, and followed Mario.

The path to the castle was dangerous, lined with much more powerful foes than the three had encountered earlier in their quest, but they fought every one of them, slowly getting closer and closer to Peach. Daisy and Luigi grew more frightened with every step, but Mario became increasingly hopeful. Before they knew it, the three of them had reached the enormous set of double doors set in the stone walls of Bowser's fortress.

"So this is it? We're here?" Daisy asked, surprised. "It just seems… too easy."

Mario frowned at her. "Of course we're here," he snapped. Everything she said made him angrier and more annoyed. However, his scowl soon faded. Mario reached to open the door but found that it would not budge. He paused for a moment, realizing that something was not right. He then told Daisy, "No. You're right."

Mario, Luigi, and Daisy slowly turned around, startled by what they saw. They'd been ambushed. Heavily armored koopa troopas surrounded them, determined not to let them enter the castle. The three immediately began a long and trying battle with them all. There was no time to be scared. They hopped on koopa after koopa, sending shells flying in every direction. The fight was tense and lasted a long time, but Mario, Daisy, and Luigi eventually managed to defeat them.

"That was awful," Daisy said, trying to catch her breath.

"Yes," Mario answered. "But Bowser must be coming soon."

"Oh my gosh!" Daisy interrupted, grabbing Luigi's arm. She was shocked to find a lengthy cut running up his forearm. "What happened to you?"

"I, well… I don't know," he answered, his eyes widening.

"It looks horrible! Are you all right?"

Luigi's injury was not severe. In fact, he hadn't even noticed it before now. Even though it was bleeding enough to stain the sleeve of his shirt, it wasn't really hurting him, However, Daisy's worrying and fussing made him feel as though he was hurt far worse than he actually was.

"I… I'm not sure," Luigi replied, meekly. "I don't think so. It hurts."

"Oh, you poor thing! You're really hurt!" Daisy declared, completely distraught. "Maybe we should go back. Mario, you can take care of Bowser by yourself, can't you?"

Mario was a bit angry at first, and felt as though they were deserting him. However, he soon realized that he was perfectly capable of defeating Bowser on his own—he'd done it countless times before. He knew that he could get to Peach even faster without them tagging along.

"Yes, of course I can do it," he answered.

"Okay," Daisy said. "Good luck."

Luigi and Daisy then began making their way back from where they had came, leaving Mario to rescue Princess Peach on his own.

---

"King Bowser! King Bowser! Wake up!" someone yelled, frantically pounding on the door of Bowser's bedroom.

It was a koopa troopa, the only one who had managed to escape the battle with Mario, Luigi, and Daisy. He's caused enough noise to wake up both Bowser and Peach.

"What is it?" Bowser growled sleepily. "What do you want?"

"There is someone here," the koopa answered nervously. "We have an intruder."

Bowser sprang out of bed and to his feet with a furious roar. He knew exactly who the koopa troopa was talking about, and Princess Peach did, too. She was certain that Mario had arrived at the castle to rescue her. She could feel it. A small smile appeared on her face, which Bowser spotted on his way out of his bedroom.

"Don't worry, Princess," he said, with a scowl. "Just stay here. You're not going anywhere."

---

News of Mario's arrival had quickly spread throughout the castle, and all of the commotion eventually awakened Bowser Jr. He walked through the hallways, unaware of exactly what has happening, but he knew that something wasn't right. As he continued, he caught sight of Bowser stomping through one of the corridors and ran over to him.

"Dad?" he asked. "What's going on?"

Bowser stopped walking, not expecting to see him son.

"What are you doing out of bed?" he said. He quickly realized, though, that it wasn't important. He had something much more serious to worry about, and didn't want to waste any time. "Never mind. Just go back to your room."

Bowser kept walking toward the castle's entrance and left his youngest child standing in the hallway. Junior knew that something was very wrong, and he was determined to find out what. He immediately ran back from where he had came, trying to decide where he could get a good view of what was about to occur.

Several concerned and frightened servants bustled around the castle, not exactly knowing what to do. It wasn't long before their clamor caused the seven older children to wake up. They had all emerged from their bedrooms just as Bowser Jr. scurried by them. The kids were all confused as to where he was going or why he was going there, but they all were curious and followed him. Junior finally reached the dining room and pulled the doors open. He rushed over to the other end of the room to look out of the enormous windows, from which he could see the castle's entrance. It was then that he spotted Mario in battle with his father. His jaw dropped. Not only was he worried, but also incredibly angry. He knew that Mario was there to take the princess away. The seven other children then filed into the dining room and also gazed out the window. Their hearts sank when they realized what was happening.

"No," Morton cried. "I don't want her to leave!"

"He always comes and ruins everything," Roy complained.

Larry stood on the tips of his toes, trying to look outside. Ludwig picked him up so that he could see. Larry frowned and Ludwig sighed.

"Well, it was nice having her here," Ludwig said. "I'm glad we got to meet her."

"She's not gone yet," Wendy said, hopefully. "Maybe Daddy will win."

"Yeah!" Lemmy chimed in. "He could!"

Ludwig frowned. His siblings were optimistic, but he knew better. "I guess it's possible," he answered, though he knew in the back of his mind that his father wouldn't win the fight. He never did.

---

Princess Peach ignored what Bowser had told her. Mario was here, she was sure of it. She left Bowser's bedroom and walked into a room a few doors down the hall that allowed her to see outside. When she saw Mario, her heart skipped a beat. She was completely thrilled to see him, but her happiness quickly turned to worry.

"I hope he doesn't get hurt," she said to herself. "Mario, please be careful. But hurry."

---

The Koopalings anxiously continued watching the fight from the dining room window, losing more and more hope as the minutes passed. The battle was dramatic and intense. Mario fought diligently the entire time, determined to rescue his beloved princess, and after what seemed like an endless brawl, Mario defeated Bowser. Princess Peach bounded through the corridors as fast as she possibly could, her heart pounding. She ran to the castle's entrance and pushed the doors open and found Mario there waiting for her. Overjoyed to be reunited, they embraced each other.

All eight of the children saw them. They were completely devastated. In the past few days they had spent with Peach they were happier than they'd been in a very long time, and it was all about to come to an end. None of the kids spoke a single word. They only stared out the window at the princess, some of them even beginning to cry.

"Are you all right?" Mario asked Peach.

"I am now," she replied with a sweet smile.

He smiled back and they kissed. "I love you," he said.

Peach beamed. "I love you, too."

"Are you ready to go back home?"

Peach didn't answer at first. She turned to look back at the castle as pleasant memories of the last few days came flooding back to her mind. This kidnapping was much different from any time before—she almost enjoyed it. She'd finally met Bowser's children, and fallen in love with all eight of them, as though they were her own.

The Koopalings were much different than everyone thought they were, and Princess Peach only prayed that Bowser had listened to all of the things she had told him about them. She hoped that he would learn to treat them as a good father should. The children's company had helped to easily make this stay in Bowser's castle the best one she'd ever had and she knew that she would terribly miss them. However, Peach was elated to be with Mario again, and she couldn't wait to return to her castle.

Princess Peach looked at Mario and smiled, then took hold of his hand. "Yes, I'm ready."


End file.
